Still, just 25, Dallas Mavericks combo guard Luka Doncic has already emerged as one of the best players in the NBA.
A five-time All-Star and five-time All-NBA First Teamer, Doncic took a major leap forward during the 2023-24 season.
Alongside eight-time All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving, the 6-foot-8 superstar guided Dallas to Doncic’s first-ever NBA Finals berth, having been a technical underdog in all three of the team’s Western Conference playoff matchups. Dallas beat the No. 4-seeded L.A. Clippers, the No. 1-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder, and the No. 3-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves en route to its first Finals appearance since winning it all in 2011. This year, the Mavericks didn’t have quite the same luck. Dallas fell in five games to the Boston Celtics, who claimed their record-breaking 18th NBA title with the series victory in June.
Doncic emerged as the league’s scoring leader for the first time this past season, averaging 33.9 points on .487/.382/.786 shooting splits in 70 games. He also was pretty close to averaging a triple-double, having also dished out 9.8 dimes a night and 9.2 boards per bout. He also notched 1.4 steals and 0.5 blocks a game.
Stacy Revere/Getty Images
Doncic is clearly one of the best players in the modern game.
Shockingly, however, former five-time Los Angeles Lakers championship-winning swingman Michael Cooper revealed on a recent episode of his Showtime Podcast that he would consider releasing Doncic — if he didn’t boast his exquisite scoring acumen, that is.
“Luka gives you that triple-double almost about every night, but he’s too slow for me,” Cooper said. “If he wasn’t a scorer, I would cut him. I give him credit for that, but to me, he’s lazy. Doesn’t hustle back on defense.”
Saying “If Luka Doncic wasn’t a scorer, I would cut him” is kind of like saying “If Michael Cooper wasn’t the Defensive Player of the Year, I would cut him.” Doncic, along with Irving, Phoenix Suns All-Star power forward Kevin Durant, and Denver Nuggets MVP center Nikola Jokic, is one of the best scorers and most complete offensive forces in modern basketball.
Granted, he is a sieve on the other end, which was eight-time All-Defensive Teamer Cooper’s primary focus. A critical contributor along the wing for Los Angeles from 1978-90, the 6-foot-7 New Mexico product was also, as this reporter already alluded, the 1987 Defensive Player of the Year.
Doncic may not have the elite fitness and defensive moxie that defined Cooper’s game, but as one of the game’s best ball handlers, surely Cooper, currently the head coach at Cal State L.A., could let that slide.
Cooper posted modest career averages of 8.9 points on 46.9 percent shooting from the field and 83.3 percent shooting from the foul line, plus 4.2 assists, 3.2 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 0.6 blocks a night. Despite these slight sums, he was an essential contributor to the “Showtime” Lakers, led by Hall of Famers Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and James Worthy.
Now, Cooper will join fellow L.A. role player Jamaal Wilkes in Springfield, as he’s set to be inducted into this year’s Hall of Fame class.
