Former NBA MVP Dirk Nowitzki gets mistaken for ex-Pacers center Rik Smits at restaurant

Dirk Nowitzki or Rik Smits? Rik Smits or Dirk Nowitzki?

Those questions caused some confusion to one man, who mixed the two former NBA players up while at a restaurant, according to Nowitzki.

"Walked into a restaurant yesterday and guy comes up and says: 'Aren’t you Rik Smits?' Not quite but I appreciated his hoops knowledge…" Nowitzki tweeted on Saturday.

The physical comparison isn't a complete stretch. Smits and Nowitzki are quite tall (Smits was listed at 7-4 while Nowitzki is 7-0) and have blonde hair. They're also both from Europe as Smits is Dutch and Nowitzki is German. Both were good outside shooting big men, though Nowitzki was the superior player.

Smits played from 1988 to 2000 on the Indiana Pacers and was an All-Star in 1998. He was part of the team that reached the NBA Finals in 2000.

Nowitzki on the other hand won a title with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011. He made 14 All-Star teams and was the MVP in 2007.

Smits' former teammate, Detlef Schrempf, also chimed in on Nowitzki's tweet.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers: Dirk Nowitzki gets mistaken for Rik Smits at restaurant