For the last few years, Luka Doncic has been considered one of the NBA’s very best players, but this spring, he has taken things to a new level.
His Dallas Mavericks won a somewhat modest 50 games in the regular season and claimed the Western Conference’s fifth seed, but they have gradually blazed a path toward the sky since then.
After getting past the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the playoffs, they up-ended the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder in six games and dispatched the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals.
Doncic has been magnificent throughout this run, and he will now be playing for his first NBA championship against the Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics.
Emmanuel Acho said on Fox Sports 1’s “Speak” that while Dirk Nowitzki is the greatest Maverick of all time, Doncic would become the best Mavericks player ever if he wins it all in the next few weeks.
.@EmmanuelAcho: Dirk is the “greatest” Dallas Maverick of all-time, but if Luka wins the chip, he will become the “best” Maverick of all-time. pic.twitter.com/uldmBEb3Q5
— Speak (@SpeakOnFS1) May 31, 2024
Doncic led the NBA in scoring during the regular season and was a major candidate for the MVP award, and as Acho pointed out, he already has five All-NBA First Team selections, which is more than Nowitzki managed in his 21-year career.
The Slovenian native is already a better, or at least a more capable player than Nowitzki was — he’s a better scorer and a much better passer, and he is much deadlier in crunch time.
At age 25, Doncic could end up winning several rings if he claims his first this year, and that would certainly put him well past Nowitzki on the list of the game’s greatest player ever once it’s all said and done.
