How Luka Doncic Has Gone 'All In' Leading Dallas Mavs to Success
DALLAS — Luka Doncic has continued to elevate his impact for the Dallas Mavericks as he's provided 11 consecutive games scoring 30 or more points amid various key players being sidelined due to injuries. He's averaging career-highs in points (32.9) and assists (9.1), while providing also leading the team in rebounds per game (8.4), being the team's top contributor in those categories again.
“It’s not easy, trust me,” Doncic said. “I’m just trying to read the game. I always accept what the defense gives me. I look at what they’re doing. They let me play a lot of minutes, but I’ve been feeling good. I’m just out there playing basketball, so I’ve been feeling great.”
Coming off a 38-44 season with the Mavs in 2022-23, Doncic has clearly maintained a high level of motivation to elevate both his play and the team's success. It's something that carried over after leading a shorthanded Slovenian national team to a seventh place finish at the FIBA World Cup despite playing without Doncic's only NBA teammate Vlatko Cancar in addition to Edo Muric being sidelined due to injuries.
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During Doncic's World Cup run, he was designated the captain for the first time in his career with the Slovenian national team. It's a role Doncic did not take lightly. As someone who has spent plenty of time as teammates with Doncic, Cancar highlighted the continued growth in responsibility Doncic has taken on and off the court to maximize his impact as a leader.
"He's starting to understand that if you want to win, you must be more responsible," Cancar told DallasBasketball.com in a 1-on-1 interview. "You have to take care of yourself more."
Cancar commended Doncic for going "all in" to maximize his level of play, highlighting how he's leaned on a team of familiar experts to continue to sustain his excellence while playing in Dallas this season. He has Slovenia men's national team strength and conditioning coach Anze Macek and physiotherapist Javier Barrio Calvo, who Doncic worked with at Real Madrid, in addition to having nutritionist, Lucia Almendros.
"As you can see, [Anze Macek], our national team strength and conditioning coach, has him over there. He has [Javier Barrio Calvo] from Real Madrid," Cancar said. "You can see that he wants to win. He doesn't want to do all this work to get knocked out in the first or second round. He's going all in."
"I feel like it's just the consistency, taking care of his body on and off the court, and at the end of the day, it's the consistency," Cancar explained. "Everybody wants in the NBA or just in general, so if you want to win, you must outperform everybody and everything."
After surpassing the quarter-mark of the NBA season, Doncic has continued to reap the benefits of his enhanced process. The ultimate test came on Monday in a road matchup against the Denver Nuggets in the Mile High City, playing through illness and shouldering an ever heavier workload due to the Mavs continuing to play without various important teammates, including Kyrie Irving, Dereck Lively II, Josh Green, or Maxi Kleber.
Doncic finish with 38 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists against the Nuggets, even though the team allowed the Nuggets to pull away significantly in the second half. Including receiving a Western Conference Player of the Week nomination, Doncic has averaged 36.6 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 11.6 assists in 39.9 minutes per game this month.
"Oh, yeah, it helps a lot," Doncic said. "I think I'm in a really good spot, so I just have to continue to work hard."
While the Mavs must continue to find ways to improve defensively to maximize their outlook for a deep playoff run, Doncic has continued to grow in his impact as a scorer, passer, defender, and leader.
