During the past four years, Luka Doncic has been one of the perennial MVP contenders. Further, considering his relatively unathletic yet well-rounded game, he has drawn extensive comparisons to Larry Bird. However, Paul Pierce isn’t pleased with Doncic’s comparison with the 3x MVP. On ‘UNDISPUTED’, when Skip Bayless brought out the Doncic-Bird likeness, Pierce quickly replied “It hurts my ears”.
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He noted that while Doncic has the edge in “handles and scoring”, Bird clears him in terms of “shooting, passing, rebounding, speed, and IQ”.
The Truth conceded that the Mavs guard “is on his way” to becoming a great like the 2x Finals MVP and alluded to his 4x All-NBA First-Team selections. However, he posited that Larry Legend “changed the game” and won an NBA title in just his sophomore year in the league. The 2008 NBA champion believes that Doncic is more like LeBron James than Bird,
“He’s probably like a European LeBron James. The way he can score, the way he can pass, the way he rebounds the ball, the way he controls the game, just a less athletic LeBron.”
Apart from that he argued while Bird was an off-the-ball player, the Slovenian PG plays the role of a ball-handler. While he admitted that Doncic can be “clutch”, the Celtics legend was a better scorer in such situations.
.@PaulPierce34 says STOP with the Luka & Larry Bird comparisons:
"We're talking about one of the Top 5 or 10 players to ever play the game." pic.twitter.com/h06BlZMjqC
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) May 21, 2024
The 46-year-old isn’t the first one to compare the 2024 NBA MVP Finalist with the 4x MVP. Jason Kidd has compared James to Luka Doncic based on their roles in a team, meanwhile, Richard Jefferson found an even more glowing similarity between the two.
LeBron James-Luka Doncic likeness has traction
In 2022, Richard Jefferson compared Doncic’s ascension at a young age with LBJ’s rise. As per him, the Mavs All-Star has a knack for greatness akin to the All-time leading scorer. He projected Doncic to land in the “GOAT conversations” too.
“Luka is as special as Bron is. Luka is that type of special. Everyone knows LeBron James is going to down as 1 or 2, depending on what your opinion is of the greatest basketball player. Luka is that special,” RJ stated on the ‘Road Trippin’ podcast.
Meanwhile, Doncic’s head coach Jason Kidd also agrees with his team’s Ace being like LeBron James. However, he also found him to be a mix of Magic Johnson and Bird. Ahead of the 2022 WCF, the Mavs HC expressed that if he adds championships to his resume, these lofty comparisons will only make more sense.
At any rate, the incredible European athlete has lodged his second WCF in three years and has never had such a competitive roster to play with. He has proved that he can carry a team to a deep postseason run repeatedly. Thus, he may be on the cusp of landing his maiden title. Whether he is the prototype of the current and former NBA greats can be debated but one thing is clear, he is carving one of the most decorated legacies in the league.
