'I'm Saying Fact!': Where Does Jeff Van Gundy Project Mavs' Luka Doncic as All-Time Great?
It's no secret that Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic is on an all-time pace to start his NBA career. After four seasons, Doncic holds averages of 26.4 points, 8.5 rebounds and 8.0 assists though 264 regular-season games.
In 28 career playoff games, Doncic has averaged 32.5 points – second only to the great Michael Jordan, who is the league's top postseason scorer at 33.5 points per game – 9.3 rebounds and 7.9 assists while shooting 47.3 percent from the field, including 36.6 percent from 3-point range.
If Doncic keeps going like this, the question won't be whether or not he'll be one of the best to ever play in the league, but rather how high on that impressive list he should be. ESPN's Jeff Van Gundy recently joined former Mavericks player and current broadcaster Derek Harper on his “Harp’s Court” podcast to discuss this matter. During the “Fact or Fiction” segment, Harper asked Van Gundy if he thinks Doncic will end up being a top-5 player of all time.
“If you would expand that to top-12? I’m saying fact,” said Van Gundy.
“Top-5 … Wilt (Chamberlain), (Kareem) Abdul-Jabbar, (Michael) Jordan, LeBron (James). You know everyone’s going to have their own guys. … But I’m going to tell you this right now — if you gave me one person to start a team with in the NBA right now, I would pick (Doncic) first.”
Doncic obviously still has a long way to go before he’s truly considered as being as great as the guys Van Gundy mentioned. However, at just 23 years old, Doncic has plenty of time to get there … as well as one heck of a head start to lean on.
You can follow Dalton Trigg on Twitter at @dalton_trigg
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