Dirk Nowitzki has knee surgery, will miss 6 weeks for Mavericks

• Dirk Nowitzki will miss six weeks for the Mavericks
• Nowitzki has not played since Oct. 6 in Berlin
• Mavericks to be without their star for 15-17 games

The news on Dirk Nowitzki has been sketchy. Now it is just bad.

But not bleak.

The Dallas Mavericks tweeted that their superstar forward will be out six weeks after he had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee.

"It's never going to be easy to lose a game-changer for six weeks," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. "We're going to have to make up for it in other areas."

The surgery was done at Texas Sports Medicine by team surgeon T.O. Souryal.

Nowitzki, who has not played since Oct. 6 in Berlin, had been nagged by the injury all offseason.

If six weeks is the timetable, Nowitzki will be back in early December but would miss between 15 and 17 games, including two against the Los Angeles Lakers. This is likely to be the most extended absence of Nowitzki's career. He's never missed more than nine games in a season.

After winning the title in 2011, the team finished 36-30 last season.

"I'm sure you're all not expecting us to be good now, so where is the pressure?" veteran Mavericks forward Vince Carter said. "Nobody's giving us a chance with or without him, so for us we've just got to play and let the chips fall where they may."

Nowitzki averages 22.9 points and 8.3 rebounds a game.

Contributing: The Associated Press