The rising star has already established himself among some of the greatest of all time.
The NBA and the Dallas Mavericks have already been greatly impacted by the team’s move to trade up for Luka Doncic in the 2018 NBA Draft. He has made five First Team All-NBA selections in six seasons, and he has made two trips to the Conference Finals and one to the NBA Finals. His career has taken off, and some have claimed he has accomplished enough to be inducted into the Hall of Fame already.
He ranks 25th on ESPN’s list of the top 25 NBA players of the twenty-first century after the network determined he had accomplished enough. The greatest athletes of the 2000s have been ranked overall on a number of lists, and now they are sorted by sport. Since this NBA ranking is an extension of the list of all athletes, Dirk Nowitzki and Kevin Garnett are still too far apart.
Doncic is by far the youngest player on the list, yet one might argue that he could have been ranked higher only based on his accolades. Nikola Jokic, who was selected in the 2015 NBA Draft and has three MVP awards and a title, is the player who is the closest in age to Doncic.
Doncic is the player with the most choices to the All-NBA team out of the eight players that are right behind him. His sole goals are to earn an MVP award or a championship, both of which should happen soon. Ray Allen, Pau Gasol, Manu Ginobili, and Draymond Green are the players in front of him.
Regarding Doncic’s career thus far, ESPN’s Tim McMahon stated the following: “You can’t f—ing guard me!” Doncic yelled at Rudy Gobert following his dance and 3-pointer with seconds left in Game 2 of the 2024 Western Conference finals. Four-time Defensive Player of the Year Gobert is not alone in his suffering. Averaging a league-high 33.9 points, 9.8 assists, and 9.2 rebounds per game—a combination never before achieved—the 25-year-old Doncic recently had one of the most productive statistical seasons in NBA history. Furthermore, Doncic’s 30.9 career postseason scoring average is higher than that of just Michael Jordan.”
Doncic is on pace to become one of the greatest players of all time once he gets over the hump and wins a championship and/or an MVP. He should’ve won it this season with his otherworldly averages but the media narrative was with Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander all season.
