Luka Doncic is doing something this season that the NBA community hadn’t seen since James Harden turned into a passing first point guard and also Russell Westbrook’s historical MVP season in 2017.
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The 6ft 8” point guard is averaging a career-high 33.4 points, along with 8.9 rebounds, 8.3 assists per game, 1.5 steaks, and 0.5 blocks per game. He is leading the league in scoring and is 6th on dimes per game.
Nevertheless, it’s not something new, even to the modern NBA, it has already seen Westbrook and Harden do it not even five years back. The latter though should have received more credit if we look at the amount of praise Doncic has been getting. Jamal Crawford pointed it out on the sets of TNT last night.
Also read: “Luka Doncic has figured out the NBA”: Kevin Garnett Is In Awe of Mavericks Star, Backs Him as MVP
Jamal Crawford calls out the hypocrisy in appreciating Luka Doncic but not James Harden
He might not have been a superstar of the caliber of the guards we are referring to, but the 3-time sixth man of the year, Jamal Crawford, was one of the best scorers for all his teams, and so he can be the person with the best idea of what we are talking about.
The former Suns’ man believes we should have appreciated The Beard the same way we are appreciating Luka Magic for his incredible run this season.
He’s not wrong, you know? Harden was destroying every team in the NBA for 5 straight seasons in a similar fashion like Luka has been lately, and yet he just won one MVP in that period.
Also read: Luka Doncic Joins Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant And James Harden On Elite List of 50-Point Scorers
Why didn’t Harden get the appreciation he deserves?
Believe me, when I say this, during his Houston days, James Harden averaged 31.8 points, 6.6 rebounds, 8.5 assists, and 1.5 steal a game for 5 straight years playing over 75 games a season, and he won just one MVP award for it.
The reason? He didn’t play defense. And probably because he failed to continue his regular season form into the postseason. None of it has anything to do with rewarding a man who gave his everything (literally, every ounce of energy) to the game of basketball for half a decade.
It can’t get any more unfair than that. And that might be the reason Harden decided he was done being a scorer and be second fiddle to KD and now Joel Embiid. This injustice that we’ve all been a part of should always be remembered by the NBA community.
