Luka Doncic Dallas Mavs Preseason Profile: The Best is Yet To Come

Luka Doncic has exceeded all expectations so far in his short time with the Dallas Mavericks. Next up for him is an MVP award ... and potentially an NBA championship if things break the right way this season.

Author:
Dalton Trigg
Publish date:
Oct 14, 2022 8:01 AM EDT

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Dallas Mavericks

At 23 years old, Luka Doncic has already spoiled us – fans and media alike – with his excellence. Such excellence can be easy to take for granted when you see it night-in and night-out, but that's just a testament to how great Doncic has been in such a short amount of time.

Doncic is on an all-time career trajectory, as he holds career averages of 26.4 points, 8.5 rebounds and 8.0 assists through 264 career games. He already has three All-NBA First Team selections on his resumé in four years, which is a crazy fact to grasp. He is already the Dallas Mavericks' all-time leader in triple-doubles with 46, and next closest to him is his head coach, Jason Kidd, with 21. He's already fifth on the Mavs' all-time list for made 3-pointers with 732, and he'll likely be third after this season, passing Kidd (778) and Michael Finley (870).

Not only has Doncic continued to improve statistically, but he's helped the Mavs improve as a team each season as well. Now, he's looking for his first championship after getting a taste of the Western Conference Finals last season. As insanely good as he's been so far, Doncic knows he still has ways to improve and take his game to an even higher level than what we've already witnessed.

“The way he’s playing, he’s always going to be in the MVP conversation. And I think he will be in that conversation the whole year this year," said Kidd of Doncic's training camp and preseason performances.

“He’s (one of) if not the best player in the world, so I don’t know if year five is a benchmark. He will understand the league better. With his talent, he’s always going to make his teammates better.”

Part of unlocking Doncic's next level was him being able to come into a season in excellent physical shape, which hasn't happened in the last two preseasons. However, after spending time working on his body and playing with the Slovenian national team over the offseason, he looks as good as he has since the 2020 Orlando Bubble ... and that should be a scary thought for the rest of the league.

Although he worked on his conditioning, Doncic's busy summer schedule with Slovenia kept him from adding much to his "toolbox," so to speak, as Dirk Nowitzki and Holger Geschwindner used to always say. We saw glimpses of a hook-shot that Doncic was playing around with in European play, but even if that doesn't make it into his full-time rotation this season, he's still got Nowitzki's one-legged fadeaway that he continues to refine.

“It just adds another shot that is tough to guard. Dirk always did it," said Doncic. “It’s a fadeaway. It’s tough to block and tough to defend. It just adds another shot (to my game).”

After being the preseason MVP favorite over the last two years, Doncic fell short of living up to those expectations both times. However, this year just feels different. It feels like Doncic is ready to finally take that next step toward even higher greatness than he's already achieved.

“To be an MVP of this league, not a lot of people can say that. It’s a long process," said Doncic at the beginning of training camp. "Hopefully one day I can win it. But let’s see. First, we’ve got to win it, and then you can talk about it.”

If the team's new additions of Christian Wood, JaVale McGee and Jaden Hardy mesh well and live up to their potential, not only will Doncic run away with the MVP award this season ... but the Mavs might mess around and find themselves in the finals this time around instead of being on the outside looking in. That's the achievement Doncic wants more than anything else ... the one that NBA legacies are truly based on.

“Always the goal is the same for me, for the team,” said Doncic. “We’re trying to win the championship.That is the only goal we have and that’s what we’re going to work for.”

Check out the rest of our Mavs Preseason Profiles: