Early in the 4th quarter of the Dallas Mavericks’ 100-95 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers last night, Dirk Nowitzki hit a baseline-jumper to put his career point total to 20,001.  Nowitzki was part of the first big wave of European players to come to the NBA in the 1990’s, and the German-native was drafted 9th overall in the 1998 draft.  A lot of people questioned this pick at the time and the 7-foot lanky German did not play well his rookie year.  Nowitzki was not used to the physicality of the NBA, as well as the supreme athletes he had to face night-in and night-out.  Nowitzki has even stated he contemplated quitting the NBA and going back to Germany.  Nowitzki and the Mavericks sure are glad he decided against that.  He put in the hard work, got stronger and learned the NBA game so his great skill-set could finally emerge.  He is a perennial All-Star and is the best European player to ever play in the NBA.  He became the first European player to win the NBA MVP Award in 2007 and now has become the first to score 20,000 points in his career.