In Luka Doncic’s third season with the Dallas Mavericks, he continues to put up excellent all-around numbers but is also gaining a reputation as one of the biggest whiners in the NBA.
ESPN’s Zach Lowe spoke with Tim MacMahon on “The Lowe Post” podcast on a variety of topics, with Lowe pointing out that Doncic’s undesirable trait has become commonplace this season.
“Luka has become one of the biggest whiners in the NBA,” Lowe said. “It’s constant, every time he drives he is whining. He spent so much energy whining to the referees and slumping his shoulders to teammates, it sucked the life of the team many times.”
MacMahon pointed out that Doncic’s poor body language in games as well as during timeouts is clearly evident, with energy wasted on complaints to game officials.
In his 20 games of the 2020-21 campaign, Doncic is averaging 27.3 points, 9.4 assists, 9.0 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game.
However, the Mavericks are struggling with an 8-13 record and have lost six straight games, including Monday night’s 109-108 defeat at home against the Phoenix Suns.
That slow start is a blow to the buzz that was seemingly created during last season’s playoffs, when the Mavericks pushed the Los Angeles Clippers to six games in the opening round of the postseason. That series stood tied at two games apiece after Doncic connected on a buzzer-beating game-winner in Game 4.
Doncic turns 22 at the end of this month, which may simply mean that he needs to become more mature. If not, the promise he’s shown in potentially becoming the game’s greatest may end up fading quicker than he expected.
