Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban has a lot of love for Dirk Nowitzki, but he firmly believes Luka Doncic is a better player than he ever was. On the Club Shay Shay podcast, Cuban explained why he believes Doncic is the better of the two.
"Dirk is mentally tougher than any human I've ever met in my life," Cuban said. "... Dirk had that mindset that was stronger than maybe anybody other than Michael Jordan. Luka, on the other hand, in terms of actual skill and killer instinct. Luka can handle the ball. Dirk needed somebody to get him the ball. That's the only reason."
Cuban added that if Nowitzki had grown up in an era like this one where everyone focuses on ball handling regardless of their size, maybe things would have been different. Host Shannon Sharpe thought the German would have been Kevin Durant before Kevin Durant and he might have been.
At this point, I would still have Nowitzki as the greatest player in Mavericks history. He spent all 21 seasons of his NBA career with the team and led them to their first and only title in 2011. Nowitzki was also named MVP in 2007 and Doncic hasn't done enough just yet to surpass him. I do believe the Slovenian is the better player of the two, though.
There isn't much that Doncic can't do on the court. He struggles defensively, but that's about it when it comes to the negatives. The 25-year-old averaged 33.9 points, 9.2 rebounds, 9.8 assists, 1.4 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game last season for the Mavericks, and you wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he averaged a triple-double for a whole season at some point.
Nowitzki, meanwhile, was a great scorer and a good rebounder, but wasn't much of a playmaker and struggled on defense as well. He averaged 20.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game for his career, which is great, but Doncic's numbers are going to look far better when he walks away from the game.
Dirk Nowitzki Thinks Luka Doncic Is A Better Player Than He Was
Sharpe brought up this topic in this episode because earlier this year, Cuban had stated that Doncic was better than Nowitzki . He didn't elaborate on why he felt that way back then, but we now know why. Nowitzki was asked about that initial comment made by Cuban that Doncic is better and had a hilarious response to it .
"Well, the good thing is here that Mark doesn't know anything about basketball so he doesn't know what he watching."
"Oh, kidding, Mark's my guy. Yeah, honestly, I mean, I gotta say he's spot on you know. I mean what Luka is doing on from not only scoring himself, he's leading the league in scoring but the passing the all-around game, the rebounding... I mean the stuff that he's doing I was never capable of doing honestly."
"I was a scorer and then next I was a scorer and then I could score and the rest was sort of like you know I rebounded a bit I helped on defense a bit I was a horrible passer so uh the kid has a way better package than than I ever had."
While a lot of the old heads would have taken offense to such a comment, Nowitzki did not and that was good to see. There is no shame in not being as good a player as Doncic because there aren't too many who can claim that.
Related: Mark Cuban Says He Didn’t Fully Appreciate Dirk Nowitzki In His Prime, Won’t Make Same Mistake With Luka Doncic
Thank you for being a valued reader of Fadeaway World. If you liked this article, please consider following us on Google News . We really appreciate your support.
Local News
Comments / 0