Projected to be seventh pick in the 1998 NBA draft, Nowitzki passed up many college offers and went directly into the NBA as a prep-to-pro player. The Milwaukee Bucks selected Nowitzki with the ninth pick in the draft and traded him to the Dallas Mavericks in a multi-team deal; future star point guard Steve Nash came to Dallas in the same trade. Nowitzki and Nash quickly became close friends. Nowitzki became only the fourth German player in NBA history, following pivots Uwe Blab and Christian Welp and All-Star swingman Detlef Schrempf, who was a 35-year-old veteran of the Seattle SuperSonics when his young compatriot arrived. Nowitzki finished his DJK career as the only Würzburg player to have ever made the NBA.