Getty Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks chats with Zion Williamson of the New Orleans Pelicans.
During his All-Star Weekend media availability, Zion Williamson shared that he loves playing against the Dallas Mavericks. More specifically, he loves traveling to the city while he and the New Orleans Pelicans take on the Mavs.
When asked about which road city was his favorite, Williamson claimed that Dallas was far and away the best.
“Come on now. You know the answer to this. You seen the video? Don’t do that… Dallas, baby,” he told reporters. “Dallas. Dallas is the best road city. What, what are we talking about? I would say Dallas, New York, and Toronto.”
Williamson’s love for Dallas hasn’t exactly been a secret. The former No. 1 overall pick listed the city amongst some of his other favorites, during a recent interview with SLAM Magazine.
“Toronto, New York, Dallas… Dallas is amazing. I don’t care what nobody tell you Dallas is amazing,” he gushed.
Justin Holiday Shares Excitement About Joining Mavs
While Williamson may love visiting Dallas, he isn’t playing his basketball there anytime soon. Justin Holiday however, recently signed the dotted line to suit up for the Mavericks for the remainder of the season.
Holiday recently shared his thoughts on joining Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving in Dallas with Sports Illustrated’s Grant Afseth.
“Obviously, I know what to do from being on other teams,” Holiday told Afseth. “But once I get to play with them and see what they like, I’ll just do the little things to try to help those two guys (Doncic and Irving) out.
The 33-year-old seemed excited to get on the floor and play for a team lead by such a strong duo.
“But then again, this team is very, very exciting. I know I’m going to see a lot of amazing things with these two guys on this team… The two-headed snake that we have,” Holiday said, “it’s going to be really tough for teams to beat us.”
In 28 games with the Atlanta Hawks this season, Holiday averaged 4.5 points and 14.7 minutes per game. His shooting has been below his career average, as he’s only knocked down 34.5% of his attempts from beyond the arc.
Despite the shooting struggles, Holiday is prepared to give the Mavs all he’s got on the defensive end.
“I’m a vet, so I know coverages, I know what other teams are going to do, I know what players are going to do,” he explained. “So I just think I can come in and help the team as much as I can, because this team is an amazing team.”
Nikola Jokic Shares High Praise for Mavs’ Luka Doncic
Williamson and Holiday haven’t been the only ones throwing praise in the direction of the Mavs as of late. The reigning MVP, Nikola Jokic, had nothing but nice things to say about Doncic during his All-Star media availability.
“He’s a one-man army,” Jokic explained. “He’s the guy who can destroy you. Who can really man manipulate the game the right way. There is no good matchup for him. If he has a smaller guy, he’s gonna post him up. If he has a bigger guy, he’s gonna go by him. He has a deadly step-back.”
The Nuggets star not only praised Doncic’s skillset, but also his high basketball IQ.
“He has a really, really, really, big basketball IQ. He has a really good view, seeing the floor really on a different level. Basketball-wise, he’s a really, really unique player,” he added.
Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic on what makes Mavericks’ Luka Doncic such a unique player:
“He’s a one-man army. He’s the guy who can destroy you. Who can really man manipulate the game the right way. There is no good matchup for him. If he has a smaller guy, he’s gonna post him up. If…