Dirk Nowitzki takes no credit for Kristaps Porzingis’ record-setting start this season. The two finally worked out together over the ...

Dirk Nowitzki takes no credit for Kristaps Porzingis’ record-setting start this season.

The two finally worked out together over the summer, and Porzingis said he asked Nowitzki “as many questions as I could.” But Nowitzki downplayed what he did. The best European NBA player said Porzingis already had all the tools, and he called the 7-3 forward “the real deal.”

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“I really don’t think I taught him anything,” Nowitzki said in an email through the Mavericks. “We just shot around, did shooting competitions and worked out together. He’s a great dude.”

Nowitzki and Porzingis had talked about working out together in the past, but it didn’t happen until the two played in the NBA Africa Game 2017 in Johannesburg, South Africa. They played some shooting games that Porzingis said he won.

“We had a couple of days together and I asked as many questions as I could,” he said. “I tried to get as much information as I could from him in our couple of workouts together.”

Nowitzki offered to help his fellow European when Porzingis was a rookie. Nowitzki, who is from Germany, gave the Latvian his phone number and told him to call if he needed any help or had any questions.

They tried to get together after Porzingis’ rookie season, but their schedules never matched up. Both played for the World Team in the Africa Game this past summer, making a tutoring session possible.

Nowitzki is one of the players Porzingis has looked up to and the player he’s been compared to the most because of his size, ability to shoot and background. Nowitzki has said he thinks Porzingis is further along than he was at this stage of his career.

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Porzingis worked on his strength during the offseason, and it shows. He has been able to handle different types of defenders and more double-teams than ever before, and he became the first Knick to score 300 points in the team’s first 10 games of the season. He added 34 to that on Saturday night, scoring at least 30 for the eighth time in 11 games.

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“He works extremely hard,” Nowitzki said. “He is so long and his arms are so long. He can shoot from deep easily and can move. He is the real deal.”