One of the coolest facts in the NBA is that Luka Doncic and Dirk Nowitzki were teammates in Luka’s rookie season and Dirk’s final year, making the 2018-19 season a passing of the torch year in Dallas.
Doncic has taken the mantle of franchise star and lived up to it, something Nowitzki revealed to All The Smoke that he didn’t think was initially possible.
“The end of my career wasn’t pretty. We were struggling, there was talk of tanking going around. We needed a little spark plug. I didn’t think it was going to be this kid [Luka Doncic]. When he walked in the first time at the practice facility, he was a big boy but I wasn’t sure if it was going to work. Is he quick enough? Is he athletic enough to go by guys? There were plenty of doubts from everybody on the team.”
"The end of my career wasn't pretty… We needed a little spark plug. I didn't think it was going to be [Luka Doncic]… There were plenty of doubts from everybody on the team."
Dirk Nowitzki was skeptical of Luka at first 😅
(via @shobasketball)
pic.twitter.com/DzDcDU0mX8
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) December 4, 2023
Team-wide doubts about the No. 3 pick in the Draft isn’t a good sign, but Nowitzki went on to reveal that Doncic started proving his value to them in the month before training camp as players were meeting up for scrimmages and work-outs.
“You meet a month before training camp, you work out together and hoop together. So guys are trying to test him a little bit, foul him here and there in the scrimmages. You could already see that this kid had something about him. He got that swag, he knows how to play, and he was getting And1 mixtape passes out of nowhere. We were thinking he was going to be a very good player but I didn’t know he was going to go to that level.”
Doncic has admirably led the Mavericks back into contention, taking them to the Western Conference Finals in 2022. However, last season saw them miss the playoffs. Luka is now hoping to live up to being a superstar and carrying the Mavericks to success.
It’s worked well so far this season, as the new father Doncic is averaging 31.4 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 8.4 assists with the Mavericks sixth in the West with an 11-8 record.
Dirk Nowitzki Reveals He Never Had To Mentor Luka Doncic
Nowitzki also discussed his role as a mentor for Luka in Dallas, revealing that he has never had to explicitly be a mentor to Doncic because Luka came into the league with the mindset of a professional player given his experience in Europe.
“My role with him, I guess we’re friends and we’re cool, whenever I’m in town we go to dinner. A mentor would be too strong because he doesn’t need me. As you guys see, he plays like a 32-year-old veteran, how he reads the game, how he carries himself on the court. I would love to say I helped him and talked to him about it, but he’s been a pro since he was 11 years old. Nothing can rattle him during a game and he just does his thing. His development has been incredible. I didn’t think he could get better from year to year, but he’s still showing it and I’m super happy for him.”
Doncic has a long way to go to catch Nowitzki on some of the all-time charts in Mavericks history, but he’s done a very good job already. Doncic has more All-NBA First Team selections at age 24 than Nowitzki had in his entire career, proving that Luka can follow in Dirk’s footsteps and lead the franchise to a championship one day.
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