“He’s Not Even Larry Bird”: 3x All-Star ‘Points Out’ Media’s Hypocrisy For Comparing Luka Doncic to Michael Jordan

Gilbert Arenas recently went live on his YouTube channel, ‘No Chill Gill’ to have a Q&A session of sorts with fans on all things NBA. During this time, one fan talked about Luka Doncic now being hailed as a future face of the league all due to the media furthering its own narrative among fans. Reacting to this, Arenas couldn’t help but bring up the discrepancy in the fans’ perception of the Dallas Mavericks superstar.

Speaking on his live, the following is what Arenas had to say on the matter.

“Have you noticed this? Luka [Doncic] is being compared to the next Michael Jordan. And they say, ‘Well, he is the next Michael Jordan, just not athletic!’. But if you say, ‘Hey, is he better than Larry Bird?’, I guarantee those same media who is comparing him to Michael Jordan, would tell you ‘F–k no, he’s not even Larry Bird!’. They won’t put him in front of Larry Bird!”

Arenas also went on to say that, as of right now, Luka Doncic can’t play off the ball, a criticism that has been levied against him on countless occasions now, despite his being the primary ball handler on the Dallas Mavericks. Admittedly, while it may be a bit harsh for Arenas to regurgitate this same critique right back to the player, Doncic needs to learn to play off-ball. Incorporating this into his game could be what elevates him to a whole new level.

That said, even as he is now, perhaps it is time we recognized that the young Slovenian is already on track to be better than prime Larry Bird. However, comparing him to prime Michael Jordan already may be just a little bit of a stretch.

Jalen Rose on Luka Doncic’s comparison to Larry Bird

A former NBA player like Gilbert Arenas, Jalen Rose recently commented on Luka Doncic’s comparisons to Larry Bird. Talking on the ESPN show, Jalen and Jacoby, the following is what he had to say on the matter in 2020.

“I’ve never compared a player to him until now… I know Larry played like a 3, 4. I know he played in the post. I know the semantics of their games are different based on the geometry of the floor. I’m talking about pace, court vision, and versatility.

“Larry Bird was a different triple-double than Magic Johnson… Magic Johnson was just showtime, oohs and aahs, pinpoint passing. Poor people didn’t…people slept on Larry would still get me 25-12 and five dimes too. Yeah so in the modern game, if he was facing the floor as the primary ball handler, he would look like Luka.”

About the author

Tonoy Sengupta

Tonoy Sengupta is a Senior Editor at The SportsRush. Coming from an athletically inclined family, he has been surrounded by sports ever since he was 4 years old. But, while initially pouring all his time into Football (soccer), at 14, Tonoy discovered basketball through the countless highlights of Stephen Curry humiliating players from Curry Land. And just like that, a fiery passion for the game was ignited within Tonoy. And soon after, he decided to become a student of journalism, graduating in 2022, and choosing sports as his area of interest. Today, you can find him spending 99% of his time browsing through every type of content on every team in the NBA, before uncorking everything he has found to the world. In the 1% he isn't doing this, you can find him playing Basketball, Football, Volleyball, or practically any other sport he has had the opportunity to learn.

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