One of the legends who Luka Doncic is being compared to by his own head coach Rick Carlisle is Larry Bird. But Luka doesn’t agree with it.
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On Saturday night, Luka Doncic had yet another stellar performance to lead the Mavericks to a 115-98 win over the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets, who played without the likes of their two All-Stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, didn’t have any clue on how to stop the 22-year-old. Doncic’s 27 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds performance was good enough for the Mavericks in grabbing the victory.
Over the past few years, the Slovenian boy has been compared to many of the NBA greats. Former Celtic Cedric Maxwell who was Bird’s teammate termed Luka as ‘Larry Bird reincarnated’.
When asked if Doncic himself saw any comparisons with the Hall-Of-Famer, Luka humbly said that the comparison wasn’t fair to the legend. The 22-year-old said:
“You can’t compare me to Larry Bird. More and more games to go. A long time before you can compare me to Larry Bird. I just want to keep hooping, have fun playing basketball.”
‘It’s a dream come true’: Doncic reveals how he felt entering his second All-Star Game
Despite being a young player, Doncic has clearly solidified himself as one of the best in the league. It won’t be shocking if the ‘Wonder Boy’ will go down as one of the greatest to ever play the game.
There is a lot of personal successes which await Luka Doncic. Only in his third year, Doncic has been selected for the second straight year as an All-Star starter. When asked how he felt upon his selection, Luka said:
“It’s great. It’s an honour to be named All-Star. Four years ago I was hoping to just get drafted. On Sunday I can be on my second All-Star. It’s a dream come true. As a kid, I was just dreaming about this and it’s just unbelievable.”
The 6-foot-7 combo guard has been continuing to better his skills each and every time he takes on the floor. He has been amongst the league’s top scorers. He has been putting up staggering numbers, 28.5 points, 9 assists and 8.4 rebounds per game this season.
Unfortunately for Doncic, the Mavericks haven’t lived up to the expectations in the first half of the season. They are in 9th place of the Western Conference, with an average 16-16 record. Luckily for the Mavericks, more than half of the 72-game season is remaining for them to turn around things to their favor.
