Luka Doncic By the Numbers: Already 2nd-Greatest Dallas Mavs Star Ever
In less than four seasons, Luka Doncic finds himself inside the top 10 on the Dallas Mavericks career scoring list.
His impact on the franchise goes far beyond.
Of those other nine sitting ahead of Doncic on the points register, only the man with his silhouette on the American Airlines Center court stands taller. Doncic is already the second-greatest player in team history.
And he’s only 23.
Doncic shares a trajectory with the NBA’s all-time greats. LeBron, Jordan, Durant. That’s Luka’s circle.
Not Ro Blackman or Michael Finley or Brad Davis. No offense.
Doncic’s 6,485 points in his first 248 games dwarf the production of any Maverick in the record books. Dirk Nowitzki tallied 4,483 points through the same number of games.
© Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
© Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
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Doncic should pass Josh Howard (6,614) and Sam Perkins (6,766) on the Mavs career scoring list before the regular season is done. Doncic jumped into the top 10 with 35 points in the 111-103 win over Utah on Monday night.
“There’s some great scorers on that list and to do it in four years – less than four years, thank you – that’s pretty impressive,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. “Kudos to him. He’s special.”
Doncic is currently 2,000 points ahead of Nowitzki at the same point in their careers, which is remarkable given the Tall Baller from the G is the NBA’s sixth-leading scorer ever. Doncic owns the franchise mark for triple-doubles with 45 – more than doubling up Kidd’s previous record of 21 – which falls 10th on the league’s career list. Doncic’s career scoring average of 26.1 is also an all-time best in a Mavs uniform.
And though we often speak in stats (and longevity) when measuring greatness, Doncic has made an imprint on the league no Mavs other than Nowitzki can rival. They’re the only two with All-NBA first-team honors. Nowitzki did it four times over his 21-year Hall-of-Fame career. Doncic is halfway there, doing it the last two seasons.
Doncic is also the reason the Mavs are a hot TV commodity again. His global following makes him a natural watch, much like Lebron, Durant and Curry. Being that those guys will all likely be retired before Doncic reaches 30, the NBA is smart to leverage Dallas in its broadcasts efforts.
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If his career ended now, the 2019 Rookie of the Year has built enough of a resume to have his No. 77 retired. If Doncic remains healthy and with the Mavs through just his 20s, he’ll probably trail just No. 41 for franchise points.
Doncic still has a long, long road to catch Nowitzki in terms of impact on the franchise, North Texas and the NBA. Racking up a title and MVP or two along the way would help his statue case with Mark Cuban, so we’ll see.
But Doncic is already the second-greatest Maverick ever. And it took less than four years to get there.
