Dirk Nowitzki recently made an appearance on The Big Podcast with Shaq, where Shaquille O’Neal had a question for him about his former teammate, Luka Doncic. O’Neal asked Nowitzki whether Doncic could have been as dominant in their era and the German felt he would have been.
“Yeah, honestly I think he could,” Nowitzki said. “I mean, you’ve seen him up close. He is huge. He is a legit 6’8″, 6’9”, but the way he’s built. He is just a physical guard. Any guard that’s smaller than him, he just physically punishes them. Once he gets you on the shoulder, it’s basically over. He just drives you down.
“So yeah, it was a little more physical, but I think he would have adjusted to really any style,” Nowitzki continued. “That stepback you can get off obviously in any era. I mean, that thing is lethal. He can go both ways, he can post, I mean, he’s got a lot of stuff in his repertoire, so I really think he would have been just fine in our era.”
I too believe Doncic would have been just fine in their era. As he does in today’s NBA, the five-time All-Star would just play at his own pace on offense and dominate on the court.
Doncic would also have had a lot of joy against all those big men he would have gotten to face back then. If you think what he does to Rudy Gobert is embarrassing, he would have done a lot worse to some of the bigs who played in the 2000s.
Sure, Doncic would have also had to deal with a lot more physicality, but he wouldn’t exactly have had a problem with that. He is a lot stronger than he might appear to be and could withstand the additional pounding he might have had to take. Would Doncic have complained a lot? Maybe, but that’s about it.
Dirk Nowitzki Didn’t Believe Luka Doncic Would Turn Out To Be So Good
Nowitzki was still with the Dallas Mavericks when Doncic arrived in 2018 following a draft day trade with the Atlanta Hawks. While he did think highly of him at the time, Nowitzki admitted he never thought Doncic would turn out to be this good.
“My last year was his first season,” Nowitzki said of Doncic via Mavs.com. “I mean, what a talent, what a player… I never thought he would be this good. It seems like he’s getting better year to year. How is he doing it? You always think you’ve seen it all and this kid does something once a game and you’re like: what? What is he doing? The creativity and IQ and how he reads the game, and then has the skill to pull that off, that’s unbelievable.”
I don’t think anyone would have thought Doncic would be this good. In six seasons in the league, he has made the All-NBA First Team five times. Doncic also won the scoring title this year by averaging 33.9 points per game. As for the playoffs, the Slovenian struggled a bit at first, as he was dealing with some injuries, but is now back to his best.
Doncic won Western Conference Finals MVP and is averaging 28.8 points, 9.7 rebounds, 8.4 assists, 1.7 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game in this postseason. He would be hoping to add a championship and Finals MVP to his resume in the coming weeks.
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