“If the swelling keeps coming back, I’m not going to play on a swollen knee all season,” he said. “If it comes back a couple more times, then we definitely have to look at something else.”

“Something else” obviously would be surgery. Nowitzki sat out of the Mavericks’ exhibition loss Tuesday to FC Barcelona Regal. Last season, Nowitzki took four games off and went through a personal week-long training camp to strengthen his legs and improved his conditioning.

He said he spent much of this summer keeping his legs strong in order to prevent a re-occurrence of knee problems. That is what makes this flare-up worrisome for Nowitzki and the Mavericks.

via Brad Townsend of Dallas News