After a historic rookie season that saw him win the NBA Rookie of the Year award, Mavericks guard Luka Doncic is taking the NBA by storm once again. Averaging 28.5 points, 10.7 rebounds and 9.1 assists in the 2019-2020 season. From the no-look passes to his patented step-back, Doncic is creating a lot of hype and people all around the NBA have been singing his praises.
Here are what people are saying about Doncic:
What SportsDay’s Mavericks experts are saying
Brad Townsend: "Ten games isn’t a large sample size, but it’s enough of one that reporters and fans and players and coaches take notice of who is trending.
No NBA player is trending hotter right now, thus turning more heads, and stirring more conversation than Luka Doncic -- never mind that he’s only 20.
The Mavericks’ 6-4 start and Doncic’s near-triple-double averages of 28.3 points, 10.3 rebounds and 9.1 assists have thrust him into the thick of the extremely early Most Valuable Player conversation. And when you come to New York, the conversation tends to heat up, as was the case after the Mavericks’ practice on Wednesday at the NBA Players Association facility.
Doncic winced when a reporter asked him how it feels to be part of the MVP discussion.
“I don’t think so,” he said, before the reporter could even finish the question. "Obviously there’s a lot of great players, amazing players. I don’t care about that.”
“Obviously, it’s nice to hear,” Doncic said. “But I want to get in the playoffs. I talked to J.J. [Barea] a couple of days ago. He said it’s so much fun to play in the playoffs. Obviously, they had the 2011 run. It would be so much fun to play in the playoffs.”
If Doncic continues playing the way he’s playing, he’ll need to get used to hearing his name in the MVP discussion. And if he continues playing this way, the Mavericks as a team will continue to benefit."
Callie Caplan: The Mavericks’ performance through 10 games has signaled more about their future seasons than the results to come in 2019-20. Doncic’s quick rise as one of the league’s most productive players (at just 20 years old) will be the franchise cornerstone that can only benefit from Porzingis’ continued acclimation and that will likely pique the interest of prospective free agents in upcoming offseasons. This season, the Mavericks’ playoff picture -- what they hope will end a three-season slide -- has also included assists from the Warriors’ injury troubles and several other Western Conference teams that many expected to be in the mix for final playoff spots -- the Kings and the Pelicans, for example -- faltering so far.
Kevin Sherrington: "Doncic is a precocious 20, which still seems a little hard to believe, and he’s better than Dirk was at the same age. He looks like the kind of player who could carry a team a long way for a long time. Porzingis, 24, is in the process of a remarkable return after a nearly two-year layoff. Imagine what he could do once he gets his long legs under him.
After the loss to his former team, Porzingis said he simply relaxed and stopped over-thinking.
And as for his opinion of Doncic?
“Oh, man,” he said. “He got, what, 38 points? He’s playing like he could be in the MVP conversation.”
Tim Cowlishaw: “People eventually are going to try to do something to get the ball out of his hands. It amazes me the way he still creates open 3-pointers. His step-back three and people let him do it, and maybe they can’t figure out how to not let him do it. Even the way teams defend [James] Harden, they know what they can’t do there. I think he’s got a great shot to finish in the top three (of the MVP voting) as a 20-year-old, which I think I saw has happened... Somebody (of that age) has been in the top five three times ever.”
What current and former NBA players and coaches are saying
Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki: "Luka’s playing out of this world... I’ve got to be honest. I thought he was going to have a little tougher transition in year two, just because he was so phenomenal last year with all the triple-doubles. I thought people were just going to really hone in on him, but he’s even gotten better...
"His shot looks better. His free throw looks better. His decision making off the pick-and-rolls when they trap him, he makes the right play almost every time. He seems to get to the basket at will at times.
“So, I was wrong there. I was wrong. Even the experts, I guess, can be wrong. He’s looking really fantastic. To average a triple-double over a whole month is unbelievable – and that at 20, so the sky’s the limit."
Lakers forward LeBron James: “Obviously he’s a great young talent. I love his game, his ability to not only create shots for himself; but you guys know I love the fact that he can get great looks for his teammates. That’s what I thrive on, that’s what I’ve always believed in, and he just plays the game the right way.”
NBA icon Jerry West: "One player has transformed them into a playoff team. He will be the best player Dallas has ever had. I have great respect for Nowitzki, but Dirk is not him.”
Mavericks player and TV color commentator Derek Harper: “He’s going to be multiple MVPs of the NBA ... I’ve played against Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson ... Luka is right in the same breath. I know people think your crazy. He’s right there with the best players ever to play, bar none, in my opinion.”
Clippers forward Paul George: “I think that’s what makes it so impressive. Because he’s doing it, but he doesn’t know he’s doing it, if you get what I’m saying. He’s still a baby. He’s got so much that he’s going to grow. He’s really going to figure it out and he’s already doing amazing. It’s going to be scary. It’s going to be scary when he fully figures it out and he starts to really hit his prime.”
Former NBA player and coach Kevin McHale: “Luka is really playing at an unbelievably high, effective level and his team is winning because of that.”
Former NBA player and coach Mark Jackson: “To me, Luka Doncic is an absolute combination of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.”
Cavaliers forward Kevin Love: “I really think he’s the future of this league. He’s unbelievable. Last year, I was extremely impressed with his game. He has taken it to a whole new level. In that fourth quarter, we were by our bench and they were shooting and I looked up at the score and saw his stats and I thought, ‘Man, that’s the most quiet 29, 15 and 14 I’ve ever seen in my life.’
Warriors forward Draymond Green: “That dude good,” Green said. “He got it. He going to be a problem. He already a problem, but he’s going to be really good for a long time. He is exciting to watch. He has kind of lifted that franchise.”
Wizards guard Bradley Beal: “He had it going all night. He’s a tough guard. He’s a physical guy. He can get any shot pretty much that he wants, and I think we let him get a little bit too comfortable. Granted, he was able to draw fouls in that aspect, but I think it was still a lot of 3s he got, a lot of straight-line drives. I just wanted to frustrate him a little bit. ... It just goes to show you how impressive he is. Nothing fazes him, nothing speeds him up, his shot has gotten better. He’s pretty much a magician.”
Former NBA player Kendrick Perkins: “I compare him to LeBron [James]. He’s not like LeBron as far as the physical specimen. Luka’s still athletic, he’s just not athletic like LeBron. But when you look at every other aspect of the game, the physicality, the basketball IQ, the passing, the rebounding, the ability to go out there and score in a variety of ways, not just one dimensional... When you look at Luka, to me, he’s the exact same as LeBron, 6-7, big body and can do it all... His IQ is through the roof and there’s a reason we haven’t seen a guy like him since LeBron at this age.”
New York Knicks coach David Fizdale: “He’s going to push Dirk Nowitzki for the greatest European to ever play this game when it’s all said and done.”
Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers: "He’s a combination of a lot. [James] Harden, in some ways. Obviously the Larry Bird comparison. I think we say that because he’s white and the other guys are white instead of just really comparing guys. That’s what we do. But there is something in that. He has great vision, Lebron-ish. There’s a lot of people in him. But I think Luka’s just going to be -- I think when he retires, people are going to say he was Luka and people are going to try to probably model their game after him more than him modeling after anyone else...
“I think he’s 40. He plays too well to be whatever age they say he is. He’s got great composure, he really does. He has seen a lot of different defenses and nothing speeds him up. He rarely gets frustrated. He’s one of those savants that grew up with it. It was probably already in him. He works at it and he’s as talented as there is in the league.”
Miami Heat coach Eric Spoelstra on the respect between Doncic and LeBron James: “The best game respects game. Particularly vision respects vision; players that can see the game at a deeper level, I think those kinds of players really respect each other.”
Erick Spoelstra on @luka7doncic and the respect @KingJames and Spoelstra have for him. pic.twitter.com/ijBHzadEoG
— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) December 15, 2019
Chicago Bulls coach Jim Boylen: “Like a linebacker playing point guard ... He’s fearless.”
What the National Media is saying
The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor: “Luka Doncic is already a top 10 player.”
ESPN’s Jay Williams said: “I’ve often said that he is a less athletic but more skilled 20-year-old version of LeBron James.”
The Ringer’s Bill Simmons: "MVP For me, there is two people through ten games. I have Giannis [Antetokounmpo] and I have Luka, I don’t think there’s really a third candidate yet.
ESPN’s Tim McMahon: “A sign of a superstar is being able to dominate a game despite shooting poorly. Luka Doncic in Mavs’ win over Raptors: 26 points, 5-14 FG, 15-19 FT, 15 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, plus-14.”
FS1′s Nick Wright: “Watching Luka & Giannis battle for league supremacy during the 2020s is going to be absolutely thrilling. Two international prospects that we’ve never quite seen before who are already doing totally unprecedented things on a nightly basis.”
ESPN’s Kirk Goldsberry: “How did two or three teams decide that this wasn’t their guy? We’ll be talking about that for another decade.”
The New York Times’ Marc Stein: “The West is impossible but I’m putting Luka in the 2020 All-Star Game now. 3-ball looks especially splashy”
ESPN’s Rachel Nichols: “Luka does not, of course, have all of LeBron’s physical gifts. But he has some different ones and the similarities between the way the two take over the game from the forward position by scoring and playmaking and expertly directing the traffic around them has simply jumped off the screen in the last two games they’ve played against each other.”
ESPN’s Chiney Ogwumike: “Luka, he’s just different. He’s lethal, especially going left. What makes a good point guard great is not having a weak hand, your non-dom hand, and also not having a weak side of the floor. Luka’s right-handed, but he’s just as good setting up the offense with his left.”
CBS’ Jasmyn Wimbish: “What we’re witnessing is historic, and with each passing game, Doncic continues to improve. He doesn’t squander under pressure either. He instead welcomes it, even when playing against LeBron, the player he idolized growing up.”