Goran Dragic: Doncic, Jokic Success ‘Gets On NBA Peers Nerves’
Dallas Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki paved the way for many European players currently flourishing in the NBA, including superstars like Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic … and all of them will tell you that themselves.
In a recent interview, newly-signed Chicago Bulls point guard Goran Dragic, who is Doncic’s Slovenian ‘big brother,’ explained why he believes the dominance of some European players — mainly Jokic and Doncic, who don’t necessarily have world-class athleticism — annoys other players in the league.
“His [Jokic] IQ is such that he’s messing with them there,” Dragic told Sportal. “Americans are pushing their way forward through marketing, and that’s all normal, but when you put everything on the floor, it’s a different story.
“Jokic is not fast, he doesn’t jump and that gets up their noses. How can a man play like this? They [NBA players] are all in good shape, you need to have six percent body fat, you need to jump… And I think it gets on their nerves, how can Jokic and Luka play like this?”
Jokic has won back-to-back MVP awards, and Doncic has made the All-NBA First Team three years in a row. Neither player has won a championship yet, but both have gotten their teams close by making it to the Western Conference Finals over the last three seasons (Nuggets in 2020, Mavs in 2022).
Could the way other NBA players feel about Doncic be one reason why he isn’t interested in being a talent recruiter for the Mavs during the offseason?
ESPN’s Tim MacMahon reports on “The Hoop Collective” that Doncic has chosen to not have great input in organizational decision-making.
“[The Mavs] seek his input, but he’s not heavily involved in personnel decisions,” said MacMahon of Doncic's work alongside owner Mark Cuban, GM Nico Harrison, coach Jason Kidd and the rest of the organization. “He has not shown interest in being heavily involved. He spends much of his offseason in Europe. He’s not a guy who has shown the desire to be a recruiter.”
Perhaps all of this — NBA players’ pettiness and Doncic lacking a desire to recruit — will change at some point in the near future.
