Nowitzki set to play for Germany after four-year break

Dallas Mavericks’ Dirk Nowitzki (41). AP FILE PHOTO

NBA star Dirk Nowitzki is set to play his first international basketball match in four years for Germany on Friday against Croatia, the Dallas Mavericks’ power forward has confirmed.

“I assume that I’ll play. I feel good, especially as it’s something different here, running on the treadmill or running around with the team,” he said ahead of the Zagreb friendly after a training camp on Mallorca with the national team.

Germany then host Croatia in Bremen on Sunday as part of the two warm-up matches for next month’s European championships when they face Spain, Serbia, Italy, Turkey and Iceland in Group B.

The last time Nowitzki played for Germany was during the 2011 European championships in Lithuania and stepped down from the national team after they missed out on qualifying for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

In his 141 appearances for Germany, he helped his country finish third at the 2002 world championships and they were runners-up at the 2005 European championships.

Nowitzki wants one last international swansong at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, but Germany need to reach the final of next month’s European championships to qualify directly.

Those who finish third to seventh in Europe go into a final qualification tournament for Rio.