Dirk Nowitzki is nearing the end of his career but he plans to play next season, which will be the final season of his current contract with the Dallas Mavericks.

"I always said that when the body is hurting every day, and when you’ve got to do all this extra stuff to just play, I think that’s when it’s time to go," said Nowitzki "But I feel good. I feel good right now and I felt good this summer. I mean, we had a five-games-in-six-days for the (Eurobasket), and I got through that just fine. ... I felt good. I don’t need to pop a thousand pills to play or practice. So as long as that’s still good, and it’s still fun to go. I’m going to definitely ride this contract out (this season and next). I don’t know. We’ll see what happens after that."

Nowitzki talked about how difficult training is compared to the games.

"Once you play and you move and the competing is there, that will always be fun," Nowitzki said. "But the summers, man. The summers are a beast sometimes. I’m usually in Germany (training), so if I was (in Dallas) working out with four or five guys all summer, that’d probably be easier, but I’m by myself basically, so I’ve got to push myself every day. Get up in the morning, leave the kids (Dirk and his wife, Jessica Ollson, have a two-year-old daughter, Malaika, and a seven-month-old son, Max) and go work out like a maniac for a couple of hours. That’s hard. That’s hard. But the playing will always be fun."