DALLAS -- This was quite an emotional summer for Dirk Nowitzki, personally and professionally.

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The Mavs’ superstar added a wife in his personal life. “I got married like four times,” he said, referring to all the ceremonies around the globe with his beautiful bride, Jessica Olsson.

And Nowitzki felt like he lost a couple family members in his professional life with the departures of title teammates Jason Kidd and Jason Terry.

“We won the championship together, so they’re like brothers to me,” Nowitzki said. “That was tough to see those two guys go somewhere else. It’s going to be weird to see them in different uniforms, for sure.”

Terry signed with the Boston Celtics after the Mavs didn’t show much interest in keeping him. If the Mavs matched the Celtics’ three-year, midlevel offer, the Jet would probably still be Dallas’ sixth man.

It’s been well chronicled that Kidd’s departure was completely his decision. In fact, owner Mark Cuban is still mad that Kidd changed his mind after committing to come back to Dallas, opting to sign the same three-year offer with the New York Knicks.

At the time, Kidd indicated that he discussed the decision with Dirk and implied that Nowitzki understood and even encouraged him to go to New York.

That’s not exactly how Nowitzki, who was in Africa at the time for one of his wedding ceremonies, remembers it.

“The day before, he said he was coming,” Nowitzki said. “I think that’s what Mark was a little upset about, that he basically said he was coming back and a day later, he wasn’t coming. It was frustrating.

“I told him, ‘We’d love to have you back and we’d love to have you retire (as a Maverick).’ But you know, he’s old enough and he made a decision that he felt was best for himself and his family, so obviously I respected that and we moved forward.”