Landon Buford
ESPN NBA Insider Brian Windhorst was a guest on 105.3 The Fan’x Dallas sports talk with Shan & RJ earlier this year. He shared that he didn’t believe many people wanted to play with Dallas Mavericks All-Star Luka Doncic.
“I don’t know how many people are going to be excited to play with Luka (Doncic). I think Luka is, maybe, a difficult person, Windhorst said. “He’s a great player, but when you watch the Mavericks play, he’s barking at the coach, he’s barking at his teammates, he’s barking at the officials. He’s always barking about something. He can really be an irritable guy.
“So, with a guy who has options, I will be interested to see how that goes going forward. … What is he, 21 now (he’s 22)? I don’t even believe he’s 21. If you look at him, everything about him, he doesn’t look 21, he doesn’t play 21. It’s almost scary to think where this guy’s going to be when he hits his prime. … I do think that Luka isn’t a guy… let’s just say It’s not like going to play alongside LeBron (James) or Kevin Durant, guys who you can tell really form good bonds with teammates. I think he’s going to be a challenging guy to play with sometimes, but if you win, that’s going to be the only thing that matters.”
However, if you ask the players who play with the two-time All-Star, they will tell you the opposite.
After the Mavericks beat the San Antonio Spurs 123-109 on Friday night, Kristaps Porzingis shared with Kevin Gray Jr of 05.3 The Fan that it is extremely easy playing with Doncic.
“Of course, playing with Luka is extremely easy. He takes so much pressure off of everybody else and makes everybody else better to get open looks,” said Porzingis.
“It’s great playing with him and I enjoy ever seen we got drafted together. Our friendship is growing every day and he is a leader on & off the court. He is a person that everyone looks towards. He has been putting this organization on his shoulders for the last three & a half years,” said Brunson after practice on Sunday afternoon.
The Mavericks play host to the reigning MVP Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets at the American Airlines Center. The tip-off is at 8 PM EST on NBA TV on Monday night.
