Mavs Star Luka Doncic Is '1 Away' From Milestone - But OUT For Bulls
Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic is going to become the latest Mavericks player to compile 1,000 assists at some point ... maybe on Sunday night against the Chicago Bulls. After all, he only needs one.
The questionable part is that he's been downgraded to "OUT'' due to a quad injury.
The insane part is how quickly this has happened.
Against Miami on Friday Doncic had 27 points, 15 rebounds and 7 assists. It was the 64th double-double of his career. The more incredible part was that, for the 38th time, he led the Mavs in points, rebounds and assists in a game. In doing so he tied Dirk Nowitzki for the most times a Mavericks player has led the team in those three categories in a single game. The next closest is Michael Finley (15 games).
To be clear:
Nowitzki played 1,522 regular-season games with the Mavericks.
Finley played 626 regular-season games with the Mavericks.
Doncic has played 138 regular-season games with the Mavericks.
That’s just silly.
So the next time Doncic leads the Mavericks in points, rebounds and assists in the same game, he will break another one of Nowitzki’s records.
His performance against the Heat — a team that went to the NBA Finals last season and lost to the Los Angeles Lakers — gives us another reminder of just how incredibly Doncic could eventually re-write the Mavericks’ record book.
Let’s take assists in this case. Doncic doesn’t get quite the credit he deserves for facilitation, and while the Mavs do have at least one true point guard on the roster in Jalen Brunson, there is no double that Doncic is nearly as good a passer as he is a scorer. Hence, the offense runs through his hands.
Just as it did Derek Harper’s during his two stints with the Mavericks. Harper is the franchise’s all-time leader in assists at 5,111. Harper played 872 games in Dallas and averaged 5.9 assists per game. The most assists per game Harper ever averaged in Dallas was 7.9 per game in 1986-87.
Doncic is averaging 7.2 assist per game to this point in his career. So, let’s consider that his baseline. If Doncic maintained that pace, he would need only 710 games to catch Harper.
Again, silly.
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Is Jason Kidd’s single-season franchise record of 9.7 assists per game in danger at some point? Kidd posted that in 1995-96 (he was just 23 back then). Doncic averaged 8.8 assists in last year’s COVID-19 shortened season. It’s possible.
Heck let’s throw the other assist records out there, too:
Game (OT): Jason Kidd, 25 (and that was in two overtimes)
Game: Jason Kidd, 20
Half: Jason Kidd, 16
Period: Jason Kidd, 10
Overtime: Jason Kidd, 5
All of them are in danger with Doncic around.
In fact, Doncic holds plenty of Mavs rookie records. But he also holds some records you probably don’t even realize he holds. For instance, most offensive rebounds in an overtime? Yep, that’s his. That was four against New Orleans back in 2019. Most defensive rebounds in a quarter? For now, he shares it with Tyson Chandler, Dirk Nowitzki and Popeye Jones with 10 each. He also holds a share of a record you don’t want when you play for head coach Rick Carlisle — most turnovers in a half (7). He shares that record with Antoine Walker, Jason Kidd and Jim Jackson. And, of course, Doncic already holds some records you may already be aware of, including most triple-doubles in a single season (17, which came last season and he could very well break this season).
We know this kid is special (yes, kid — he doesn’t turn 22 until February). And it seems like every night he does something special.
One assist from now, Luka Doncic will prove it again.
