As Mavericks star Luka Doncic climbs the MVP ladder this season, he continues to strengthen his claim as one of the league’s top players. But according to former NBA guard Gilbert Arenas, Doncic may not be the superstar he thinks he is. Rather, as Arenas claims, he is closer to somebody like James Harden than Michael Jordan.
“He’s James Harden,” said Arenas on his show. “He scores a lot of points and doesn’t play defense, but we see what they did to James Harden who didn’t play defense. They let the world know he didn’t play defense. Luka is considered the next Michael Jordan. The MJ that played defense and offense.”
While James Harden is no scrub, his career is still somewhat controversial due to the fact that he’s never won a ring. So far, Luka is on the same trajectory and even his game shares some elements to the Beard.
As great as Luka has been in the NBA, there is an element of truth to his game being one-sided. Unlike many superstars before him, Doncic is only effective on offense. Defensively, he just doesn’t have the speed, size, or athleticism to keep up with the NBA’s top-scoring guards.
In the past, this flaw has been exposed to a heightened degree, and it’s been the downfall of the Mavericks ever since the start of the Luka Doncic era. Since acquiring Kyrie Irving last winter, that problem has only gotten worse as the team has struggled to compensate for the lack of defensive resistance in the backcourt.
So until Luka can show some improvement defensively or proves that his scoring is enough to win the title by itself, he will never reach the heights of other NBA legends like Michael, Kobe, and LeBron James, who left no room to doubt the effectiveness of their two-sided game.
The Dallas Mavericks Are Darkhorse Contenders This Season
Aside from a lone trip to the West Finals, the Mavericks have yet to find lasting success in the postseason. From Kristaps Porzingis to Jalen Brunson, the Mavericks have tried their luck with several co-stars for Luka, but none of them lasted until Kyrie Irving arrived.
After some initial struggles in their first months together, the duo learned how to play together and they’ve built up enough chemistry to elevate the Mavericks to another level in the West. Currently, at 45-30, Dallas is 5th in the standings and just two games back from the first seed in the Conference.
It remains to be seen how far the Mavericks can get in the West bracket. They’re likely set to face the Clippers in round one, but the way they’ve been playing lately has the entire league wary of a potential matchup.
While Luka, like Harden, has yet to prove himself in the postseason, he still has a lot of time in front of him to change the narrative and show that he can lead his team to a championship. With averages of 28.6 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 8.3 assists this season, he has certainly been impressive in more ways than one, but he still has so much to prove.
Fortunately for Luka, the odds have never been better for the Mavericks to go on a long and successful playoff run, but it will be Doncic and his efforts on both sides of the court that determine the outcome, for better or worse.
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