WATCH: How Mavs' Luka Doncic is Elite NBA Passer
Luka Doncic is coming off his third All-NBA First-Team campaign and led the Dallas Mavericks to the Western Conference Finals this past season. An important element of his impact has been his execution as a passer.
The way Doncic is able to attack the defense in different ways with his passing makes him such a challenging player to defend. He is a maestro orchestrating high pick-and-rolls, and he thrives making deep kick outs, passes out of the post.
The video below analyzes how Doncic showcased what makes him such an impact passer throughout the 2022 NBA playoffs. Whether it was against the Golden State Warriors, Phoenix Suns, or Utah Jazz, the Mavericks superstar delivered.
With Doncic being 6-foot-7 and rarely being a player that gets sped up by defensive pressure, he's able to stay poised after drawing two defenders and capitalizes with his passing. Given he's also a tremendous scorer, he sees multiple defenders often.
"You've got to pick your poison," Mavs teammate Dwight Powell said in March. "You want to take away his scoring as best you can, and 3s from the corner are one of the most deadly shots, so a lot of times the progression falls on the lob."
A critical element to Doncic's passing outcomes is that he's processing how the defense is approaching their X's and O's multiples steps ahead. He knows what the weak-side is going to do and how to manipulate it to his advantage.
"He doesn't even look back, and you're right behind him and he passes it over his back," Mavs teammate Maxi Kleber says. "He knows you're there. It's just high IQ. He knows -- if the defense plays him a certain way, if both [defenders] stay with him -- what area his teammate will be open."
You can follow Grant Afseth on Twitter at @GrantAfseth.
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