Why Luka Doncic moments are STILL underrated!

Luka Doncic has been playing professional basketball since he was 15 years old. He’s in his 4th season & is already a Top 10, arguably Top 5 player in the NBA. Mark Jackson even thinks he belongs on the NBA Top 75 list already at just 22 years old! On Top Shot, He is already a highly valuable player as his Common S1 TS debut is the 5th highest amongst S1 Common TS debuts behind Morant, Giannis, Steph, & Lebron. But after watching his 33 point game performance against the Celtics, capping it off with a game winner from downtown, I decided to dig a little deeper into how great Luka really is. Here’s the breakdown!

Praised from Lebron & NBA greats

I don’t think I have ever heard Lebron talk as highly about a young player as he did with Luka Doncic. In Lebron’s interview with Road Trippin, he stated that, “He (Luka) controls every facet of the game from scoring to rebounding to passing to just his approach when he gets the ball.” In addition, Lebron compares Luka to himself & Magic Johnson as “something special.” He respected Luka’s game so much that he wanted Luka to be his 1st signing under Team Lebron with Nike. Even though he ended up with Jordan, it is still under the Nike brand.

To receive that sort of praise from the King is something to behold in awe. It could remind a lot of older NBA fans about when Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were calling Michael Jordan the best player in the NBA back in the 80s. On the other hand, it’s not just Lebron giving him praise. There is an 18 minute video of NBA greats absolutely admiring & praising Luka Doncic with D-wade even calling his passing abilities “Lebron James Like.” Honestly, it is surreal how respected he is at only 22 years old & it gets better!

The Unbelievable Analysis Of Luka Doncic

I watched a brilliant ESPN video describing Luka’s Doncic’s ridiculous stepback jumper & his greatness on the court. I came away with a lot of takeaways.

His Approach

• The way he commands the court & sizes up his defenders is straight up, unfair. When he goes into a crouch stance, he already has defenders at a disadvantage. They have to protect against the drive & give up the step back or sell out on the step back & get blown by the drive. It leaves defenders unwilling to take initiative, signifying why he is able to cook elite defenders like Kawhi Leonard & Paul George.
• In the 2020–2021 season, Luka led the league in drives with 1,378, converting approx. 63% of his FGs in the paint. Even if the defender guards Luka well, he has “godly” court vision with his passing abilities being surreal as he was 5th in assists last season. At age 21–22, he was nearly a walking triple double finishing out the season with (27.7, 8, 8.6) on a FG% of 48%! To be averaging a near triple-double at that age is unheard of.

His Stepback

• At 6"7 & 230 lbs, he is still quick enough to create space, get defenders on their heels, & big enough to shoot over his opponent, executing the beautiful stepback jumper. Last season, Luka led the NBA in stepback jumpers with 475 with Damian Lillard being behind him at 308! Just take a moment to comprehend that. It’s astonishing! What’s even crazier is that he made a whooping, 183 of them, posting a 38.5% in stepback 3s! That is the 3rd most in a season behind James Harden’s 18–19 (250)& 19–20 (222) seasons.
• In addition, he has implemented his stepback in the mid-range game as well. Here is a chart comparing his mid-range stepback attempts from his 19–20 season to his 20–21 season. He greatly increased his volume & even imitates Dirk’s one legged shot! Just another unstoppable move to add to his arsenal.

That Clutch Gene!

• Luka already has had memorable clutch moments such as the infamous stepback 3 on Reggie Jackson, Luka’s insane 3pt GW floater, & his most recent one against the Celtics. He already has 4 GW under his belt including 3 GW buzzer beaters.
• Luka (3) is now tied with Dirk Nowitzki (3) for the most GW buzzer beaters in Mavs history.
• Only Vince Carter has more career buzzer-beating GW-3PM (5) than Luka Doncic in NBA history.

Just to add more sauce to his greatness, he is the youngest player in NBA history to earn multiple All-NBA 1st Team Selections. On the flip side, people could point to his lack of athleticism, signaling him as an average defender & he definitely could improve his FT% as it stands at a career 73%. But he is an improving, young superstar who has all the potential to improve on those flaws. Otherwise, he has no flaws! We are talking about an unprecedented, evolution of talent who has evolved so quickly into a superstar.

There are some brilliant Luka moments on TS for a bargain during this bear market. What makes him so valuable from the others in the market is that, as we all know, higher Series = +CC.

He is gonna have way more moments than the older SUPERSTARS in the league, making the earlier ones more scarce & valuable.

When demand starts rapidly growing, Future series mint counts (CC’s) will have to increase & the uncertainty of inflation with moments will be something to keep mindful of down the road.

I see a career with 3–4 MVPs, 3 championships, 3 Finals MVPs, 4 Scoring titles, 6 Assist titles, 15 All-Star appearances…(You get the drift haha!)

Let’s just hope the Mavericks get the right pieces around him so he can become the HOF legend that he deserves to be!

(Not Financial Advice) (All subjective takes)
(Market accounted for as of 11/10/2021)