Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki joined KTCK-AM 1310 and KTCK-FM 96.7 The Ticket to discuss all things Dallas Mavericks. Here are some highlights.

On his rather interesting haircut:

Nowitzki: "So it was getting to the point, right around the New Year, we said together the family - we did the whole New Year's Resolution thing. And I said one of the things I wanted to try was a new haircut. I saw it in a magazine, and this model had a cool cut. So I said to my guy 'can you pull this one off?' And he's like 'yeah, I think it will look good.' Man when he was done after 45 minutes ... uh ... it was ... interesting. I tried to pull it off for a few weeks there. But it was so long in the front and during the game I kept pulling the hair to the side like I was some model. So I decided to just go short. You should've seen that day. I walked in for shootaround that morning and I think Parsons, unfortunately, was the first guy to see me through the doors and it was on from there. Whether it was Ellen DeGeneres, there were all sorts of things thrown around, but all in good fun."

On the comparisons his one-legged fadeaway drew to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's sky hook:

Nowitzki: "Honestly, weird ... weird. That Kareem shot to me, nobody will ever shoot it like that. I feel like my shot is easier to shoot. In a sense it's almost weird to have that shot in the same category as the hook shot because if you have a decent touch, some balance and if you have good footwork, add a little step back and it's a shot anyone can shoot. It's just creating a little separation with the one leg and then all you have to do is just get a good look at the hoop and get the ball up. It's weird to have that shot in the same sentence, and I think that's what pissed Kareem off a little bit this season when he made some comments about me. It feels weird to have that shot on the same level. "

On the team's recent struggles in free agency and if he is happy:

Nowitzki: "Yeah, well, you know, I always said I wanted to compete. Once we felt the championship, the excitement in the city, what happened here - it was incredible. As a competitor, you'd love to climb the mountain again, and have that feeling and excitement again. We just haven't been as close. We made a couple business decisions as a franchise as I always have said after the lockout and, you know, basically hoping that free agency will help us and cap space. But it just hasn't. It hasn't taken over the way we wanted to. It was a lesson learned probably the past few years that we maybe would have done different. But afterwards, you're always smarter.

But listen, I see, obviously, reports on Twitter all the time, guys hitting me up 'I feel bad for Dirk.' Don't feel bad for me. I love what I do and we get paid a lot of money to do what we do. I love competing and I love the sport still. I've been lucky to do it for a long, long time. Came here, whatever, 18 years ago not knowing what to expect and it's been an incredible journey. I don't want anybody to feel sorry for me. I'm going to compete like I always have and then one day it'll be all over."

On what motivates him to still compete at a high level:

Nowitzki: "It's still fun to show the young guys that I can still do it and also obviously help the franchise wins games as I get along. But its always driven me to know there's some other guy in the gym. It's what drives me in the summer when I have no desire to really be there to chase Holger around in a hot gym with no A/C. But it's still fun. I still get a kick out of it to know I put this work in and it's going to pay off in the season."