Luka Dončić has finally made his first NBA Finals. After six long years where he accomplished nothing but a Rookie of the Year award and five consecutive All-NBA First Team honors, the world can finally start to appreciate the 25-year old who has averaged 28.7 points, 8.7 rebounds and 8.3 assists over his first 400 regular season games.
With all those personal accomplishments, combined with the Western Conference Finals victory, Mavericks coach Jason Kidd believes that the pressure is now on the media to put Luka in the GOAT conversation.
Jason Kidd on where Luka Doncic ranks now and among the greatest NBA players: “We believe he is one of the greatest. I think that’s up to the media to write. You guys will place him in a place of great and GOAT debates.” pic.twitter.com/H8ImsK8HlG
Great news for Kidd. The capital "M" Media is all over this. On Get Up Friday morning Alan Hahn called him the best player in the NBA and compared him to Larry Bird and Kobe Bryant.
.@alanhahn compares Luka to Larry Bird and Kobe 😯 pic.twitter.com/UX7u3dV8AG
Not that there wasn't some resistence. In an earlier segment Kendrick Perkins said that Luka was only a top five player in the NBA. So while he did concede that Luka is a "bad man," he doesn't even consider him the Greatest of Right Now (GoRN). Perkins does seem willing to revist the debate should the Mavericks win the title.
"Is Luka a top five player in the NBA? He is. But he still has to complete the mission of wining the NBA championship before we anoint him of being the best player in the world."
—@KendrickPerkins 👀 pic.twitter.com/Qwq6zucb0q
This is heady stuff. Luckily, the NBA Finals don't begin until next Thursday night so there is plenty of time to have this conversation over and over and over again. Hopefully, by the time the actual games begin, the media will have figured it out and Jason Kidd can focus on coaching.
STEPHEN DOUGLAS
