Luka Doncic is often praised for the incredible balance in his game of scoring, playmaking, and dishing it out to open teammates, something that forms the core of the Dallas Mavericks’ offense. While the 25-year-old has always made it look easy, Doncic’s former Mavericks teammate, Josh Richardson recently revealed that this process took quite a bit of trial and error to develop into its current form. And in that process, the Dallas superstar apparently received a lot of liberty that his teammates wouldn’t dream of receiving.
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Appearing on The OGs podcast alongside Udonis Haslem, Richardson was asked what was it like to play with Doncic. After pondering for a moment, the 30-year-old explained that Doncic took some time to figure out when to shoot and when to pass the ball. Richardson saw this development in front of his eyes during his stint with the Mavs from 2020 to 2021.
While this opportunity sometimes isn’t afforded to everyone, the Slovenian superstar’s talent warranted such kind of patience, per Richardson. He said,
“I think the time I got there, he was like ascending… So I think he was figuring out still, like a balance – when to kick it up, when to get off it, when to ‘get in my bag’, you know what I’m saying? And you know, for a superstar like him, they get that, they get that leeway. And you kinda gotta let them figure it out.”
Doncic’s stranglehold on the Mavericks’ offense had been criticized by many. Luka even had the highest usage rate in the league in the 2023-24 season with 35.9%. However, Kyrie has taken a lot of the playmaking responsibilities this postseason, which has allowed the Mavs to be really dominant.
Richardson went on to talk about a Luka Doncic explosion in Boston, where he had racked up an incredible 27 points at half-time. He brought this up to use it as an example of what the upsides of this leeway given to him in the past looks like.
It can come as a little bit of a surprise that Luka Doncic needed an adjustment period at all, considering just how good he has been from the get-go. However, as every ball-handler in the NBA will tell you, finding the right balance between scoring and facilitating is something that can take all the time in the world to master.
Fortunately for him, it appears that Doncic has achieved this balance already. And with this understanding of his, he has even led the Dallas Mavericks all the way to the NBA Finals this year. And along with this journey of his, there has been quite a bit of praise as well.
Luka Doncic received praise from the likes of Paul Pierce
Earlier in the 2024 NBA Playoffs, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce couldn’t stop gushing about Luka Doncic on their show, KG Certified. During their time together, Pierce admitted that he was so impressed by the Slovenian’s production, that he believed that he is already in his prime.
In fact, the Boston Celtics legend even went on to say that Doncic has been in his prime from the very beginning of his NBA journey, citing his experience in Europe as the reason for it. He said,
“It’s 100% his prime because you got to understand he’s been playing pro since 16. Right now he’s 25, he’s in the middle of his prime. Now, it’s about how long his prime is going to last. Come on, he has five First Team All-NBAs. He made First Team in his second year in the league. So when he hit the league, he hit the league in his prime,”
Pierce’s take is a steaming hot one, to say the absolute least. However, given just how good Luka Doncic is already, it is a bit hard to argue with it as well.
