Luka Doncic and Dirk Nowitzki are among the best Europeans to have graced the NBA hardwood. Interestingly, both players are associated with the Dallas Mavericks franchise, with Nowitzki leading the team to win their first NBA championship in 2011. Though the German Wunderkind is still regarded as the greatest European to ever play in the league, Doncic’s current form at his peak could soon dethrone Nowitzki from this throne.
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Amidst Luka experiencing such a peak in the sixth season of his career, Mavs coach Jason Kidd has claimed the Slovenian to be better than Dallas’ franchise legend Nowitzki. Kidd’s claim has received reactions from NBA veterans and analysts such as Shaquille O’Neal, Jamal Crawford, and Stephen A. Smith. At this juncture, no expert in the NBA is ready to accept Doncic as a player better than Dirk Nowitzki.
While Shaq agrees Doncic is a great player, he believes it is too early for people to start putting him in the category of being better than the German power forward. On the other hand, Jamal Crawford disagrees with Jason Kidd for putting Luka in the same atmosphere as Michael Jordan, as he believes MJ is the best ever and too good to be compared to.
“Great player but I don’t think you can start putting him in that category yet. … Great player but better than Dirk? A little too early.”@Shaq on Jason Kidd’s claim that Luka is “better than Dirk” and “in the atmosphere of MJ” pic.twitter.com/NsxiCV6kGK
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 7, 2024
“I’m kind of tired of people throwing around Michael Jordan’s name. … He’s the best ever. He’s too good to be compared to.”@JCrossover on Jason Kidd’s claim that Luka is “better than Dirk” and “in the atmosphere of MJ” pic.twitter.com/Qk4D01NcNc
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 7, 2024
ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith also resonates with the same feeling as the NBA veterans’ take. Though Luka Doncic might be a better offensive player, Nowitzki’s ability to be a playmaker and involve his team alongside him makes him a champion compared to Doncic, who is still vying to win his first championship with the Mavs.
Stephen A: “Jason Kidd knows this, Luka Dončik is a better overall offensive talent, but the difference between him and Dirk Nowitzki is that Luka Dončik has folks around spectating watching his greatness, Dirk Nowitzki got dudes to play with him, which is why he’s a champion…” pic.twitter.com/HwiWfAK1Rw
— SLO HOOPS FAN (@SloHoopsFan) February 1, 2024
Evaluating Jason Kidd’s statements would be tough as Doncic is still in his sixth season in the league, compared to Nowitzki’s 21 legendary seasons in the NBA. Hence, the best possible way to compare the two talents would be to highlight their highest-scoring seasons and their respective stats in those particular seasons.
Luka Doncic
Luka Doncic’s stats for the 2022-23 season is his highest-scoring season before the 2023-24 season, which is still underway. Doncic averaged 32.4 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 8.0 assists in 66 games during the 2022-23 season. Doncic had a field goal percentage of 49.6% and a three-point percentage of 34.2%, scoring an average of 2.8 threes of 8.2 attempts.
Doncic gave fans several highlight moments from his career during this season. One such moment was against the New York Knicks in the regular season, wherein he scored a triple-double with 60 points, 21 rebounds, and 10 assists to help the Mavs secure a 126-121 POT win. With this feat, Doncic became the second player to have a 60-point triple-double in the history of the NBA after James Harden.
Some of his other best plays during the season came against teams such as the Denver Nuggets, against whom Doncic recorded his 50th career triple-double with 33 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists in a 127-99 victory. In a regular season game against the Utah Jazz, Doncic marked his 22nd career 30-point triple-double, surpassing Wilt Chamberlain for the fifth-most in NBA history. Another highlight moment was recorded in a win over the Orlando Magic, making Doncic the first player in the league to score 200+ points, 50+ rebounds, and 50+ assists through the season’s first six games.
Dirk Nowitzki
Dirk Nowitzki’s 2005-06 NBA season is highly regarded by the Mavericks and the NBA fans as the German superstar’s best-performing season of his career. In fact, during this season, Nowitzki averaged a career-high 26.6 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 2.8 assists in 81 games, earning him his fifth All-Star selection in the league. Nowitzki had a field goal percentage of 48% and a three-point shooting percentage of 40.6%, averaging 1.4 three-pointers of 3.3 attempts.
During this season, Nowitzki led Dallas to a 60-win season, finishing with the third-best record in the league, only behind the defending champions San Antonio Spurs and the Detroit Pistons. Some of Nowitzki’s most memorable performances came during the post-season campaign, wherein the Mavs swept the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round, thanks to a clutch three-pointer by Nowitzki in the closing seconds of Game 3 of the series.
Nowitzki next faced the defending champion Spurs in the Western Conference semi-finals, helping Dallas win against San Antonio in seven games. In the final Game 7 of the series, Nowitzki finished the night with 37 points and 15 rebounds to help Dallas beat the Spurs for the first time in a playoff series.
In the Western Conference Finals against the Phoenix Suns, Nowitzki put up an unreal 5-point and 12 rebounds for his team, helping them advance to the Finals that season. However, a formidable Miami Heat team consisting of Shaq and Dwyane Wade overwhelmed the Mavs to clinch their first NBA
Though Luka Doncic is yet to win an NBA championship, a Finals MVP, and a regular season MVP as Dirk Nowitzki, he is very well on the path to becoming one of the greatest Mavs to play in the NBA, as Coach Kidd has already predicted in his case.
