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Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd is praising his superstar point guard, Luka Doncic, following a closely contested 131-129 win over the Orlando Magic on Monday night. It’s not difficult to hype up Doncic, who scored 73 points against the Atlanta Hawks last week, the highest in the NBA since Kobe Bryant’s 81-point performance in 2006. He’s a top-5 player in the league, is frequently included in MVP discussions, is a regular at the All-Star Game, and has led the Dallas Mavericks to their greatest success since winning the championship in 2011.
The acclaim is well-deserved, even though Doncic has yet to win a big award, such as MVP or NBA championship. However, Kidd is taking the adulation to a new level.
Kidd remarked during a Tuesday appearance on 97.1 The Freak’s “The Downbeat” that Doncic had already exceeded the talent of Hall of Famer and former colleague Dirk Nowitzki. Not only that, but Kidd went so far as to claim that Doncic is on a comparable path to Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Bryant.
“I’ve said this before, and I’ll say this for as long as I’m here, you can’t take this young man for granted,” Kidd said of Doncic. “He’s better than Dirk, he’s in the atmosphere of MJ, the best to ever do it. LeBron [James], 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 is the opportunity of getting the right people around him to ultimately win a championship.”‘
Saying Doncic is better than Nowitzki is not ludicrous; the 7-foot German has previously stated that the young superstar is already better than he was in his prime. That alone says a lot given Nowitzki’s illustrious career, which included leading the Mavericks to their only championship, being named league and Finals MVP, earning All-NBA and All-Star honors for most of his career, being named to the NBA’s 75th anniversary team, and most recently being inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2023. Doncic’s NBA resume isn’t nearly as long as Nowitzki’s, but as Kidd pointed out, there are things Doncic can do with his talent that Nowitzki never could.
Doncic’s court vision, rebounding skills, and ability to score at all three levels make him one of the league’s most difficult players to guard. Combine it with the fact that he is a 6-foot-7 point guard who, despite his lack of athleticism, can manipulate the game with his slow-paced, stop-and-go style, and you have something unique in the NBA. That 73-point performance demonstrated that regardless of what you throw at him on defense, he’s basically unbeatable.
When challenged if Kidd actually supported his claim that Doncic is better than Nowitzki given that he has never made it to the NBA Finals, the Mavericks coach doubled down.
“Yeah, MJ is the same way, MJ didn’t make it until his 30s,” Kidd went on to say. “At the age of 24, this young man is shattering every record that stands in his way. He is a winner, and his ultimate ambition is to win the title. He will get there, and he will not only win one, but several when all is said and done.
Throughout Doncic’s first five years in the league, he has shattered records held by those players, and the phrase “first since Jordan, LeBron, or Kobe” appears next to his name with every accomplishment. The only thing preventing Doncic from actually reaching that level is a lack of MVPs and championships, which, as Kidd stated, is due to the Mavericks ensuring they surround their superstar with enough top-tier talent to help him get there.
We’ve seen Doncic carry the Mavericks on several occasions over the years, and although it results in otherworldly scoring performances from the Slovenian superstar, relying completely on him has limitations. We saw that in Doncic’s first two postseason outings, when he was practically unstoppable against the much fancied Clippers, and in some cases, it appeared that he could beat L.A. on his own, but he wasn’t enough. Even this season, Doncic has been pushed to do far too much, and while it has resulted in wins for Dallas, it is not sustainable.
Adding Kyrie Irving at the trade deadline last season alleviated some of Doncic’s scoring burden, but Irving’s numerous appearances on the injury list this season have resulted in more one-man Doncic performances. When combined with injuries to other role players and inconsistent play from those who are healthy, Dallas is still relying heavily on Doncic’s abilities to win games on most nights. That has to change if the Mavericks want to keep Doncic happy in Dallas while also winning another championship.