Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd believes that Luka Doncic is a better player than Dirk Nowitzki and should be compared to players like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.
Here’s a clip from The Downbeat this morning as Jason Kidd joined @badkaratemovie @MikeSirois and @ktfuntweets
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“You can’t take this young man for granted,” Kidd said. “He’s better than Dirk. He’s in the atmosphere of M.J. — the best to ever do it — LeBron, Kobe. And so just to appreciate what this young man is doing at the age of 24 is something that Dallas has never seen. And I’ve said this internally, he is better than Dirk. He does things that Dirk could never do, and now it’s the opportunity of getting the right people around him to ultimately win a championship.”
Doncic has been one of the most productive offensive players in the NBA so far during the 2023-24 regular season. In 40 appearances with the Mavericks, he is averaging 34.7 points, 8.6 rebounds and 9.6 assists per game on 48.9 percent shooting from the floor and 37.5 percent from 3-point range.
The Slovenian boasts the second-highest scoring average of any player in the league right now, behind only Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid, who is averaging 36.0 points per game on 53.9 percent shooting from the field. Doncic also ranks third in the NBA in assists per game.
The 24-year-old just recently carried the Mavericks to a two-point home victory over the Orlando Magic on Monday. He scored a whopping 45 points while shooting 12-of-23 from the floor and 3-of-8 from deep in 43 minutes of play. Plus, he chipped in 15 assists, nine rebounds and two steals.
The Mavericks are currently in the thick of the Western Conference playoff picture, as the team owns a solid 26-21 record, which is good enough for the No. 7 seed in the conference. They are within reach of a top-five seed however, as they are just two games behind the Sacramento Kings in the standings, who own the fifth-best record in the conference.
Dallas has a daunting pair of games in front of them. First, the Mavericks will take on the Minnesota Timberwolves on the road on Wednesday. A few days later on Feb. 3, Dallas will then play another great team in the Milwaukee Bucks at home.
Mavericks fans should hope that Doncic will carry over his performance against the Magic into the team’s next two games against some of the best teams in the league. He might have to put together herculean scoring performances in both games in order for the team to pick up a pair of wins.
