Dallas Mavs' Luka Doncic Makes NBA History, Becomes Youngest Player to Reach 1,000 Threes
The Dallas Mavericks secured their third consecutive win on Monday night, defeating the Memphis Grizzlies, 120-113, despite having several key players – including star point guard Kyrie Irving – out with injuries.
Because Dallas was so shorthanded, one could safely assume that Doncic would be in for a big night, and he was, finishing with 35 points, eight rebounds, six assists, two steals and two blocks while shooting 9-21 overall, 5-10 from beyond the arc and 12-13 from the free-throw line.
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With those five 3s, Doncic made some NBA history, as he became the youngest player ever to reach 1,000 3-pointers made. Doncic reached that milestone at 24 years, 286 days old, and the second-youngest player to reach 1,000 3s was Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum, who did it at 24 years, 344 days old.
Doncic also became the second-fastest to reach the milestone in terms of games played. He got his 1,000 3-pointers in 351 career games, whereas Indiana Pacers' Buddy Hield did it in 350 games.
"When you talk about MVPs, one of the best players in the world, Luka can do that with anybody," Mavs head coach Jason Kidd said. "He displayed that this evening."
Over Doncic's last five games, he's averaging 36.8 points, 9.6 rebounds and 10.8 assists while shooting 48 percent from the field, 37.3 percent from deep and 80.8 percent from the free-throw line. For the season, Doncic is second in the league in scoring at 31.9 per game, and he's shooting a career-high 38.8 percent on 3s.
The Mavs are now 14-8 and currently sit in third place in the Western Conference standings, just one game back of the second-place Oklahoma City Thunder and three games back of first-place Minnesota Timberwolves. If Doncic can keep up his current pace, especially with the Mavs' roster being so injury-plagued, he'll be deserving of winning his first-ever league MVP this season.
