Since we are all friends, I will trust that you are good and not go over what Luka Doncic has done in his last three NBA games again. You may have heard about at least one of those acts, most likely that one, and seen references to the 24-year-old doing Real Wilt Chamberlain Things.
That is great; it means we are all on the same page. I have already written about Doncic’s big moments, and I will write about them again. But sometimes, like when he became the first player in history to score 70 points or more in a game and shoot 75 percent or better, a shared nod, giggle, and three or four shocked noises are all that is needed. I know Doncic is a fool. You also know it. We are getting along.
“He’s better than Dirk. He’s in the atmosphere of MJ, the best to ever do it, LeBron [James], Kobe [Bryant]. And so, just to appreciate what this young man’s doing at the age of 24, [it] is something that Dallas has never seen. I’ve said this internally: He is better than Dirk. He does things that Dirk could never do, and now is the opportunity of getting the right people around him to ultimately win a championship.”
What Mavs head coach Jason Kidd said on 97.1 The Freak’s “The Downbeat” this morning is what everyone really wants to talk about:
These are the parts that are especially important and correct: they are in bold. It is been clear since Doncic’s second NBA season that he skipped over about a dozen stages of growth on his way from “seriously impressive, noticeably flawed rookie” to “barring injury, a future Hall of Famer.” That was the start of almost five years of anecdotal, optical, and statistical evidence that Doncic already plays the game at a level that not even the best athlete in Dallas history could match. This is because Doncic’s size, skill, smarts, and stubbornness may be the only things that have ever beaten James. That is where I could dump a bunch of numbers on your head to please the “Well, actually” crowd, but we are friends, so I am going to assume the best.
The problem is that, besides Nowitzki, who is known for being very humble, not many people have been willing to say that too loudly. It is easy to see why: Nowitzki is so great that he deserves more respect than almost everyone else in the city’s past. Long before I worked here, I wrote about how important Dirk is in a bigger picture. That Dallas is enough was shown and is still shown by him. This is a huge deal for a city that is always looking for approval. The guy on our 50th anniversary image is there for a reason.
Nowitzki and Kidd played on the title team together before Kidd became Doncic’s coach. This means something because it lets us talk about what we are watching in the most important way. That does not mean that Doncic is automatically better, more liked, or more important than Nowitzki in Dallas. Those things go beyond skill and production, which is why none of that is up for debate until Doncic wins his own ring here. Some of it might not even be an argument at that point.
After a week of low-calorie debate about whether Doncic’s 73-point game is as impressive as Joel Embiid’s 70-pointer (yes), whether it represents the flaws in the modern game (stop), or whether a player this great still has room to grow (he has said so, and that is fine), this is a nice change of pace. We can finally talk about Luka Doncic in a way that is both interesting and true, but more than that, it is fun. Because that is what sports are and who he is. Even more so during weeks like the last one.