Dallas Mavericks star guard Luka Doncic is coming off yet another banner regular season. He led the NBA in scoring at 33.9 points per game while adding 9.2 rebounds and 9.8 assists for a Mavs squad that won 50 games.
Luka has pretty much been an NBA MVP candidate since he entered the league out of Slovenia back in 2018.
Unfortunately, his record-setting young career has not translated to postseason success in Big D. Dallas has made it out of the first round just one time. That came back in 2021-22 when the team was defeated by the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals.
With the Mavericks down 1-0 in their first-round playoff series to the Los Angeles Clippers and coming off a stinker of a performance in Game 1, questions about their ability to succeed in the postseason continue to pop up.
We can now add former NBA All-Star Goran Dragic to the mix of those who believe the status quo is not working. Doncic’s former teammate on the Slovenian National Team provided an interesting take on the star’s game.
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Goran Dragic says Luka Doncic must change game for Dallas Mavericks to have success
“I think so, he can win, he just needs to change a little bit, maybe trust his teammates more. I’m not saying, because he does pass the ball, but just get off the ball a little bit more,” Dragic said on The OGs podcast. “And because of, you know, if you have the ball so much in your hand you get tired, and then it’s a long season and even in the playoffs you know I think that’s too much.”
It’s not necessarily that Dragic was taking a major shot at Doncic. Rather, he’s pointing to the ball-dominant guard trusting the likes of Kyrie Irving and others more.
There is some truth to this. Doncic’s usage is among the highest of any player in the NBA. Leading the league in points while averaging 9.8. assists per game adds another layer to this. It means that Doncic is accounting for north of 53 points per game.
- Luka Doncic career stats: 28.7 PPG, 8.7 RPG, 8.3 APG, 49% shooting
Doncic just finished up his first full regular season with Irving as his top running partner. In doing so, Dallas posted its best record since that conference finals run in 2021-22.
As noted above, they fell to the Clippers by the score of 109-97 on Sunday. Dallas scored a total of 30 points in the first half of that game. For his part, Doncic went for 33 points with 13 rebounds and six assists. Irving added 31 points. No other member of the Mavericks had more than 11 in the loss.