The Dallas Mavericks’ alternate governor Mark Cuban recently stirred up a controversy in his camp. During an appearance on the ‘Run It Back’ show, the billionaire was asked if the current star on the team, Luka Doncic, is the greatest Maverick of all time. To everyone’s surprise, Cuban had no hesitation in naming the Slovenian star as the greatest Mav, over one of the legends of the game, Dirk Nowitzki. But is he really en route to be one of the names in the GOAT debate?
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Cuban believes that the 25-year-old has surpassed the legacy and impact created by the German star. What’s interesting here is that Dirk played for the franchise for over two decades, and brought them their first and only NBA title. Moreover, he believes that Luka as a player is far superior to Dirk, ranking the Slovenian higher on the all-time list.
Cuban said, “The difference is that Luka can control all aspects of a game. With Dirk, you had to get him the ball in his spot, he’s not gonna bring the ball up and attack.” He also tried to clarify that his opinion is not coming from a place of disrespect and that he believes both the players would rank in the top 10-15 best players of all time.
However, for Luka, Cuban seemed confident that by the time he finishes his career, he will end up alongside the “top 2, top 3 of all time” with Michael Jordan, the late, great Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James. So, after spending more than half a decade in the league, is Luka on track to be the next MJ or LeBron?
According to Stat Muse, MJ averaged 32.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, and six assists in 427 games in the first six seasons in the league. King James’ average in his first six years was 27.5 points, seven rebounds and 6.7 assists in 472 games. If we compare Luka’s numbers to these legends, he is averaging 28.7 points, 8.7 rebounds and 8.3 assists in 400 games, in his first six seasons.
It seems like these comparisons are not being pulled out of thin air. As for Cuban’s opinion on the Slovenian being a better player than Dirk, the stats suggest that the former Mavs owner is not wrong. In his first six years, Dirk averaged 20.4 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 444 games.
Dirk Nowitzki responded to Mark Cuban’s claim
This is not the first time that Cuban has made this statement, proving that he really believes his claim. During his appearance on ‘The Draymond Green Show’, he said the same thing about comparing both. In fact, he took it up a notch by claiming that “Dirk will be the first one to tell you Luka’s better.”
However, when Dirk was in conversation with Kevin Hart on ‘NBA Unplugged’, he initially disagreed with Cuban and even mocked his game knowledge. He said, “The good thing is here that Mark doesn’t know anything about basketball, so he doesn’t know what he’s watching.” However, he quickly retracted his statement saying that it was a joke, and co-signed Cuban’s opinion on Luka being a better player than him.
