Dirk Nowitzki will join the club tonight.
Assuming he has a routine game, or something approaching his usual high standard, he'll get the 16 points he needs against the LA Lakers to reach 20,000 for his career.
He'll become the 34th player in NBA history to reach the plateau that validates the great scorers in league history.
And, at the still-prime age of 31, the best European ever in the NBA who also is the best 7-foot shooter of all time is far from done. "He has a lot of years left," said Jason Kidd, who is thrilled for Nowitzki, but also likes to keep him grounded. "When he gets into his high 30s he'll be a guy who stands behind the (3-point) line. "And he'll be getting a lot of attention. He can make shots and could end up pretty high on that list." The top 10 in all-time scoring certainly is in his reach, assuming he keeps rolling for a few more years. "It's an unbelievable milestone," Nowitzki said. "Looking back 11 years ago, I don't think any of you guys thought I could score a thousand. But my main goal now is a championship. All the individual goals will be nice when I'm done, but as for now, it doesn't mean that much to me. I'm still chasing my dream and that's to win a championship." Being in the 20K club is only the start for Nowitzki's personal portfolio. It almost guarantees that he will end up in another elite club: the basketball hall of fame. Of the 33 players who have reached 20,000 points before Nowitzki, all of them that are eligible to be in the hall of fame are in it, except for Mitch Richmond and Tom Chambers, who each barely squeaked into the 20,000 club. "We all knew it, right?" president Donnie Nelson said with a drip of sarcasm. "We felt good about the pick, but I'd be lying to you if I told you back then that Dirk would be looking at those kind of numbers. With all good players, it's a combination of what the Good Lord gave him and a ticker as big as all outdoors and good-old fashion work ethic." As for how Nowitzki gets his 20,000th point, Kidd said he won't try to orchestrate something. "When you do that," he said, "it never works out." What Nowitzki knows is it'll be more memorable than his first point in the NBA, which came at Seattle in the opener of the lockout-shortened season in 1999. He was playing against Detlef Schrempf, who along with Uwe Blab was the first German in the NBA who was an idol of sorts to Nowitzki growing up in Germany. "There were Germans all over the place," Nowitzki said. "It was just a mess. The stadium was so big and I was in awe the whole time. I was 0-for-3 or 0-for-4 from the floor and made two free throws. So those were my first points. Looking back, it was one of the worst games I've ever played." 1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar; 38,387 2. Karl Malone; 36,928* 3. Michael Jordan; 32,292 4. Wilt Chamberlain; 31,419 5. Shaquille O'Neal; 27,969** 6. Moses Malone; 27,409 7. Elvin Hayes; 27,313 8. Hakeem Olajuwon; 26,946 9. Oscar Robertson; 26,710 10. Dominique Wilkins; 26,668 11. John Havlicek; 26,395 12. Alex English; 25,613 13. Reggie Miller; 25,279* 14. Jerry West; 25,192 15. Kobe Bryant 24,914** 16. Patrick Ewing; 24,815 17. Allen Iverson; 24,187** 18. Charles Barkley; 23,757 19. Robert Parish; 23,334 20. Adrian Dantley; 23,177 21. Elgin Baylor; 23,149 22. Clyde Drexler; 22,195 23. Gary Payton;21,813* 24. Larry Bird; 21,791 25. Kevin Garnett; 21,712** 26. Hal Greer; 21,586 27. Walt Bellamy; 20,941 28. Bob Pettit; 20,880 29. David Robinson; 20,790 30. George Gervin; 20,708 31. Mitch Richmond; 20,497* 32. Ray Allen; 20,238** 33. Tom Chambers; 20,049* 34. Dirk Nowitzki; 19,984** 35. Tim Duncan; 19,906** 36. John Stockton; 19,711 37. Bernard King; 19,655* 38. Clifford Robinson; 19,591* 39. Walter Davis; 19,521* 40. Terry Cummings; 19,460* *Not in the basketball hall of fame; **Active players Dirk Nowitzki needs 16 points tonight to reach 20,000 points. He will be playing his 876th NBA game. Others of note: Hakeem Olajuwon, 833; Moses Malone, 837; Charles Barkley, 858
Name Game No. When Season No. Wilt Chamberlain 499 1965-66 season 7 Michael Jordan 620 Jan. 08, 1993 vs Milwaukee 9 Oscar Robertson 671 1968-69 season 9 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 684 1976-77 season 9 Elgin Baylor 711 1968-69 season 11 Allen Iverson 713 Jan. 23, 2007 vs. Denver 11 Jerry West 720 1970-71 season 11 Shaquille O'Neal 727 March 20, 2003 vs. Sacramento 11 George Gervin 745 1985-86 season 10 Bob Petit 760 Nov. 13, 1964 11 Dominique Wilkins 763 Nov. 05, 1992 vs New York 10 Karl Malone 772 Jan 20, 1995 vs Cleveland 10 Adrian Dantley 775 Dec. 11, 1987 vs. Washington 12 Larry Bird 809 Nov 20, 1990 vs Washington 12 Kobe Bryant 811 Dec. 23, 2007 vs New York 12
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