Luka Doncic is easily one of the best players in the NBA right now. Ever since he made his debut in the league back in 2018, Doncic showed the NBA why he was an MVP in the Euroleague. A 6’7″ point guard, Doncic is the epitome of a modern NBA guard. Not only does he have a size advantage over other guards, but Doncic is also a multi-level scorer who can get buckets at his will.
In his 4 seasons in the league, the Slovenian has been a phenom for the Dallas Mavericks. Breaking records left, right, and center, the 23-year-old unsurprisingly has been an MVP candidate for two seasons running. As impressive as his regular season performances have been, the 3-time All-Star has truly shown his star power in the playoffs. Clearly the Mavericks’ talisman, Doncic does the heavy lifting for the side in the postseason.
This was especially true in the 2022 NBA playoffs. After missing the first three games of the playoffs, Doncic made an incredible comeback against the Utah Jazz. After defeating the Jazz, though, the Mavs had an impossible task in their hand as they faced off against the defending Western Conference champions, Phoenix Suns.
After a back-and-forth series, the Mavs had their backs against the wall as they were only a loss away from being eliminated in the second round of the playoffs. While the Suns took a 3-2 lead in Game 5, there was a lot of back-and-forth trash talking between both sides. Luka, unsurprisingly, was at the forefront of all of these controversies. The Slovenian, though, did not back down, chipping back at the Suns.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdfEtvpwJ2w
Doncic backed up the talk by defeating the Suns in a close Game 6 and absolutely demolished the Suns in Game 7. Former Chicago Bulls center Stacey King was certainly impressed with Doncic and claimed that him backing up his trash talk was reminiscent of Michael Jordan and Larry Bird.
“You know all that talking that Devin Booker and all those guys were doing that upset Luka Doncic. I remember after the game, they’re walking off and Luka had made some comment about some players talk when you have a lead. And when I saw him do that, it brought back MJ. That’s something MJ would do. That’s something Larry Bird would do. Like okay, you want to talk trash, now you don’t. You woke me up and now I’m getting ready to make you pay. And I thought that was the turning point in the series.”
Given the number of records Doncic has already broken, the Slovenian is headed towards an All-Time career. If he can stay relatively fit for the rest of his career in the NBA, the Slovenian might find himself in the mount Rushmore of the association.
