Dirk Nowitzki Had His Right Knee Drained

Surgery may still be in the cards for Dirk Nowitzki, but for the time being, he is settling for having his troublesome right knee drained once again. Reports the Dallas Morning News: “Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki put in a full practice Friday after getting his swollen right knee drained for the second time in recent weeks. Though he seemed more optimistic about the knee than he did during the Mavericks’ recent trip to Germany and Spain, he stopped well short of ruling out the eventual need for arthroscopic surgery. ‘I really don’t know why the swelling keeps coming back,’ he said. ‘I can’t really finger-point it. Maybe there’s something floating in there that shouldn’t be floating in there. We’ll only know that for sure if we do a scope, but as for now, we haven’t (planned surgery). I’m just going to keep working this weekend and see how the knee responds. I’ll be all right, hopefully.’ […] Nowitzki didn’t specify which day he had the knee drained, but said it’s the second time he’s had it drained in recent weeks. He said he also had it drained ‘a couple of times’ last season. ‘If the swelling keeps coming back, I’m not going to play on a swollen knee all season,’ he said. ‘If it comes back a couple more times, then we definitely have to look at something else.'”