It isn’t often that you look at a 23-year-old basketball player and say that he is definitely going to go down as one of the all-time greats but you can certainly say that about Luka Doncic. The Slovenian has made a mockery of some of the concerns raised regarding him before he was drafted and is one of the best players in the NBA today.
Doncic put on a show yet again on Monday night, as he finished with 53 points to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a win over the Detroit Pistons. He is now averaging 33.4 PPG, 8.9 RPG, and 8.3 APG this season and has earned a whole lot of praise for his performances. Jamal Crawford on Inside the NBA, however, wondered why James Harden, when he was with the Rockets, never got the kind of love that Doncic is getting these days despite putting up big numbers.
.@JCrossover: "The stuff you see with Luka [Doncic] doing right now, you go back and look Harden is doing all the same things. Why do we not give [James] Harden his love when he was doing all the same numbers in Houston?" pic.twitter.com/w53KB5Mg7G
— 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧' 𝐍𝐁𝐀 (@_Talkin_NBA) February 1, 2023
“I have a question about Harden. Why is it that we don’t give him his respect? The stuff you see what Luka doing right now, you go back and look Harden is doing all the same things. Why do we not give Harden his love when he was doing all the same numbers in Houston?”
“Harden was in the Western Finals multiple times, was a game away from going to the Finals. Like, he should get his love for what he did.”
The reason why Harden never got the love is quite simple. He had earned a reputation as being a playoff choker fairly early on in his Rockets career and people disregarded what he did in the regular season. He had a couple of good runs in the playoffs, but far too many of them ended in failure, which overshadowed the good moments. Luka, on the other hand, has been simply spectacular in the postseason, so he gets all the admiration and respect that Harden never got.
Kevin Garnett Has Luka Doncic As His 2023 MVP
Luka has been spectacular this season as stated earlier and Kevin Garnett said Doncic has figured out the NBA. Garnett also picked him as his MVP for the season and while Luka will certainly be in the conversation, winning the award does seem unlikely, as the team record won’t be good enough.
Doncic just does not have a lot of talent around him and before that win over the Pistons, the Mavs had lost 9 out of 13 games. They are open to trading every player except Luka to get a star to help him out, but nothing has happened so far.
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