Rick Carlisle, the head coach of the Pacers, recently sat down with Draymond Green for an interview on his podcast. During his conversation with the Warriors veteran, Carlisle spoke in depth about the Lakers’ star, Luka Doncic.
Carlisle was the head coach of the Mavericks when Doncic was drafted into the NBA. He began by speaking about getting a glimpse of the Slovenian star’s unique skill set in his first practices.
“When Luka came, he came in the fall, and the first day of pickup games he’s playing, and we have a pretty good veteran team. We had DeAndre Jordan, we had Wes Matthews, we had Harrison Barnes who won a championship with you, and some other really good players.”
“Luka played with these guys, and he is playing like Magic Johnson. He is rebounding, and he is throwing dimes all over the He wasn’t really even looking to score, and I’m like, ‘God, this guy’s like a Magic Johnson type player.'”
“And then we get into the season, and you know I wasn’t really sure what position he was going to be. I thought he was probably gonna be a three-man because he was almost 6’8″, but you know, he kept saying he’s a point guard.”
“After eight or 10 games, we put him at point and, you know, we put Dennis Smith off the ball and um, the rest is pretty much history,” Carlisle said.
“I mean, he was historic in his first three years. And, you know, and I said this during the year, you know, from a talent standpoint and ability and everything else, he’s the most unique player I’ve ever worked with.”
“I mean, he’s just so good. And he’s a killer, you know? He’s a killer competitor, too. You put the right guys around him, and you know I defy you to figure out a way to beat him because he is smart as hell and he knows every trick in the book, and he knows how to win,” Carlisle added on what makes Doncic so unique.
In his first three seasons (until Carlisle was his head coach in 2021), Doncic averaged 25.7 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 7.7 assists while shooting 45.7% from the field and 33.1% from behind the three-point line. He became an All-Star in two of his first three seasons.
Subsequently, Carlisle also spoke about Larry Bird when he brought up Doncic’s name once again while talking about the Celtics legend’s tendency to trash-talk as a competitor.
“Guys like Bird, I’m trying to think of somebody today who’s like that. Luka, Luka’s got a lot of that. He has fun with the game. He talks s–t. He’s brash, all that kind of stuff.”
“Larry did it a little more under his breath at times. Other times he stepped up, he got in fights and other stuff like that, but as a competitor, I put him up there with Jordan and all the greatest guys, Russell,” said Carlisle on Bird.
So it is clear that Carlisle sees Doncic as having a unique combination of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird’s abilities. The big difference is that both of them had three championships by the time they were 27, the same age Doncic is now.
It remains to be seen if Doncic can accomplish the same level of greatness as either of these legends. But he is constantly in the MVP discussion now. So it is clear why the 27-year-old is rated so highly as the face of the Lakers franchise.
