Luka Doncic has been a mainstay in MVP conversations this season, as he works to lead the Dallas Mavericks to an NBA championship.
Last year, he and the Mavs got as close to the goal as they’d been since actually winning the title back in 2011. They battled all the way to the Western Conference Finals, where they eventually fell to the Golden State Warriors in five games.
One of the core pieces to that Warriors team, Draymond Green, recently mentioned Doncic in a rant on his podcast The Draymond Green Show.
Green and guest Gilbert Arenas had a discussion and compared the amount of pressure that European players, like Doncic and Nikola Jokic, face versus that of the American-born stars.
“I saw a list today, that I think Stephen A. (Smith) put out. It was like the players that are under the most pressure to win a championship. I think James Harden was one, CP (Chris Paul) was two, Jayson Tatum was three, Joker was four, and Luka wasn’t even on the list. I feel like over the years, European players haven’t caught as much flack about winning a championship.”
.@Money23Green and Gilbert Arenas speak on European players not being held to the same standard as US players
Michael Wilbon Rips Luka Doncic: ‘He’s Whining, He’s Crying’
Mark Cuban and the Mavs’ front office have brought in some help for Doncic as he works to bring a title to Dallas.
The Mavericks were able to land star guard Kyrie Irving ahead of this season’s trade deadline. They struck a blockbuster deal with the Brooklyn Nets, sending out Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, a first-round pick, and two seconds in exchange for Irving.
Since the deal, Dallas has been working through some growing pains. In games where both Irving and Doncic have played, they have a record of just 1-4.
The team’s continued struggles were a point of discussion on a recent edition of ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption. During the segment, host Michael Wilbon labeled Doncic “a big baby.”
“Their star player Luka Doncic, a big star, is a big baby,” Wilbon said. “He’s whining. He’s crying, his palms up to the officials. The players going the other way, and he’s not interested. And Jason Kidd ripped them and ripped him. Good for Jason Kidd as the coach.”
John Hollinger Rips ‘Desperate’ Mavs After Kyrie Irving Trade
Wilbon isn’t the only one who’s thrown shots at Doncic’s Mavericks lately. The Athletic’s John Hollinger took aim in a recent article, where he separated the NBA’s title contenders from pretenders.
“Dallas made the conference finals last year, has a 24-year-old superstar, and yet … looks just as desperate as everyone else, especially in the wake of Sunday’s collapse against the Lakers and Jason Kidd’s weird press conference afterward,” Hollinger wrote.
The former NBA-executive went on to label Dallas’ trade for Irving a “quasi-reckless gamble.”
“The Mavs have a familiar litany of issues for a team on this list. They’re already in next year’s tax, out of future draft picks and trying to hit on a quasi-reckless gamble (Kyrie Irving) after painting themselves into a corner with bad contracts and the needless own goal of Jalen Brunson’s departure,” he continued. “The Mavs also got bonus desperation points for starting a buyout guy (Justin Holiday, who couldn’t get minutes in Atlanta even as the Hawks were desperate for reliable wing play).”
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Draymond Green Name-Drops Mavs’ Luka Doncic in Rant Over European Players