Dallas (dpa) – German basketball star Dirk Nowitzki, who retired a good five years ago, is about to take on a job as a TV expert in the North American professional league NBA. According to consistent reports, the 46-year-old from Würzburg will be working for the new rights holder Amazon as an expert for Prime Video starting next season. According to reports, only details remain to be clarified. There has been no confirmation so far.
Nowitzki, who became NBA champion in 2011 and played a total of 21 seasons for the Dallas Mavericks, retired from active basketball in April 2019. Since then, the German has had many smaller jobs. For example, Nowitzki became an ambassador for the world association Fiba. In this role, the former national player was also present at several major tournaments such as the 2022 European Championships in Germany, the 2023 World Cup in Asia and the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Biggest packages on ABC and ESPN
This summer, the NBA concluded a billion-dollar deal over eleven seasons starting in 2025/26. In addition to Amazon, Disney and NBCUniversal have also acquired rights packages. According to several media reports, the best basketball league in the world is expected to collect a total of 76 billion dollars (around 70 billion euros) for this.
Disney, with its ABC and ESPN channels, remains the NBA’s main partner. The finals also take place there. Among other things, Amazon secured rights for the newly introduced NBA Cup and the Conference Finals, which can be seen on Prime Video in six of the eleven contract years.
