Dirk Nowitzki did not attend college. He was projected to be the seventh pick in the 1998 NBA draft and passed up many college offers to go directly into the NBA as a prep-to-pro player. Although he did look at a few high-profile colleges, including Kentucky, he never attended any of them. Nowitzki is a German-born basketball player who began playing for DJK Wurzburg X-Rays, a second division team in German Bundeslinga, at the age of 16.