Luka Doncic has made it to the NBA Finals for the first time in his career at the relatively young age of 25. Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks beat the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games in the Western Conference Finals, and the Slovenian now has a chance to add an NBA championship to his already incredible resume.
– Career averages in the NBA of 28.7 points, 8.7 rebounds, 8.3 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.5 blocks
– 5x All-NBA First Team (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024)
– 5x All-Star (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024)
– NBA Rookie of the Year (2019)
– NBA All-Rookie First Team (2019)
– NBA Scoring Champion (2024)
– Fourth highest scoring game ever in the NBA (73 points)
– Second highest career scoring average in the NBA playoffs (31.1 PPG)
– Western Conference Finals MVP (2024)
– FIBA World Cup Top Scorer (2023)
– All-FIBA World Cup Team (2023)
– Olympics All-Star Team (2020)
– All-EuroBasket Team (2017)
– EuroLeague champion (2018)
– EuroLeague MVP (2018)
– EuroLeague Final Four MVP (2018)
– All-EuroLeague First Team (2018)
– 2× EuroLeague Rising Star (2017, 2018)
– EuroLeague 2010–20 All-Decade Team (2020)
– Euroscar Player of the Year (2019)
– 3× Liga ACB champion (2015, 2016, 2018)
– Liga ACB MVP (2018)
– All-Liga ACB First Team (2018)
– 2× ACB Best Young Player (2017, 2018)
– 3× ACB All-Young Players Team (2016, 2017, 2018)
– 2× Spanish King’s Cup winner (2016, 2017)
– 2× Trofeo Costa de Sol champion (2016, 2017)
– FIBA Intercontinental Cup champion (2015)
– EB Next Generation Tournament champion (2015)
– EB Next Generation Tournament MVP (2015)
– Sports Illustrated Breakout of the Year (2019)
– Slovenian Sportsman of the Year (2018)
It is ridiculous what Doncic has been able to do at his age. It is somewhat easy to say this in hindsight but to think this man was not the first pick of the 2018 NBA Draft after all that he achieved in Europe is crazy.
The Phoenix Suns drafted Deandre Ayton with the first pick that year while the Sacramento Kings chose Marvin Bagley III with the second pick. Doncic was then drafted with the third pick by the Atlanta Hawks, who traded him to the Mavericks for Trae Young, who was the fifth pick.
With the hype surrounding Ayton at the time, you understand why the Suns passed on Doncic, but the Kings just made a huge blunder there. As for the Hawks, there was talk for a while about it being a win-win trade because of how good Young turned out to be, but I think it’s safe to say now that the Mavericks easily won that trade.
Will Luka Doncic Add An NBA Championship And Finals MVP To His Resume?
Doncic is now just four wins away from adding an NBA championship to his resume. Standing in his way, though, are the formidable Boston Celtics. The Celtics were by far the best team in the NBA in the regular season as they finished with a 64-18 record.
If you had asked me a couple of weeks ago if the Mavericks could beat the Celtics in a series, the answer would have been no. A big reason for that was Doncic not being anywhere near his best as he was playing through various injuries.
I wasn’t sure Luka was going to get much better healthwise as the playoffs went on, but it sure looks like he has. He was outstanding against the Timberwolves, averaging 32.4 points, 9.6 rebounds, 8.2 assists, 2.2 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game in the series to win Western Conference Finals MVP.
Doncic’s play combined with the ease with which the Mavericks dispatched the Timberwolves does lead me to believe they have a fairly good chance of winning the championship. I would still have the Celtics as the favorites, but only by a bit.
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