"Do I have to work even harder to actually step on the court?" - Jalen Brunson says it's unfair how Luka Doncic dominates games while playing at his own pace

Before Jalen Brunson starred for the Knicks, he played for the Dallas Mavericks .

Mark Cuban's franchise drafted Brunson 33rd overall in the 2018 NBA Draft. Thirty picks prior to Brunson, the Atlanta Hawks selected Luka Doncic before trading his draft rights to the Mavs.

Doncic was a highly-touted prospect, a teenage prodigy from Europe. Like everyone else, Brunson was eager to see what Luka could do. He got his first glimpse of his new teammate during a pick-up game when the team began to have their workouts in August-September that year.

"We're playing pick up, and this is before our rookie season, and Luka is playing, but he's like moving at a snail's pace," said Brunson. "I'm like this dude's not really playing hard or whatever. But he's making a pass, after this, he's doing a step back and making it. I'm just like in my head, 'Are you gonna pick it up?'"

Luka has his own pace

The first things that people in the NBA noticed about Luka were that he didn't look in good shape and he appeared to be too slow for the NBA game. But as Brunson said, those did not affect his performance as Doncic was dishing off nifty assist passes and making step-back three-pointers.

As the workouts continued, Luka Magic remained slow but was still dominating games. Later, JB realized that there was no way Luka was going to speed up because he wasn't slow. He was just playing at his own pace, and according to Brunson, watching him play effortlessly made him doubt himself.

"He has a counter for everything and he's 6-8, he can see over everything," added Jalen. "So I really questioned like 'Damn, do I have to work even harder to actually step on the court?' Like you start getting the self-doubt when you saw a player like that, of his caliber. "

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Doncic is a future Hall of Famer

After missing the playoffs during their rookie seasons, the Mavericks posted a 43-32 record during the pandemic-shortened season and made their first playoff appearance in four years. That season, Doncic started picking up accolades, earning his first All-Star and All-NBA first-team selections. As early as back then, Brunson said he knew Luka was going to be special.

"I've said this since, like, Year 2 of him in the league," continued Brunson. "He's a future Hall of Famer, without a doubt. Like if he stopped playing right now, he's in the Hall of Fame just because the things that he's been able to do at such a young age has been unheard of."

Last season, Luka continued his ascent in the NBA ranks. With Kyrie Irving beside him, the Mavs advanced to the 2024 NBA Finals, where they lost to the Boston Celtics. Meanwhile, Brunson has emerged as the leader of the up-and-coming New York Knicks. But while Jalen had to work his butt off to get to where he is, the Slovenian still looks like he's playing around. We know, however, that he isn't.

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