Jason Kidd Says Luka Dončić Could Be Greatest Maverick Ever With NBA Title

June 5, 2024 Jimm Sallivan

At 25 years old, Luka Doncic is set to play in his first NBA Finals, looking to secure the first championship ring of his career.

The Dallas Mavericks have won just one NBA title in the franchise’s history, and coach Jason Kidd, who was on that championship-winning team, spoke briefly about Doncic’s legacy and where he ranks in franchise history.

When Richard Jefferson and Malika Andrews of ESPN asked whether defeating the Boston Celtics in this year’s NBA Finals could vault him ahead of Dirk Nowitzki and give him a rightful claim as the greatest player in Dallas history, Kidd didn’t deny the possibility.

“Yes. Yes,” Kidd said.

Jason Kidd says Luka would become “the greatest Maverick ever” with a championship. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/cMOyD8Iaij

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) June 5, 2024

Nowitzki was named Finals MVP for his efforts in the Mavs’ 2011 championship run. During the playoffs that year, he averaged 27.7 points and 8.1 rebounds while shooting at a stunning 46% clip from three-point territory. Doncic has averaged 28.8 points, 9.6 rebounds and is hitting 3.4 threes per game while shooting 34.3%.

Nowitzki, who was elected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2023, spent his entire 21-year career in Dallas, making 14 All-Star teams and earning All-NBA honors 12 times. Despite all his success and accolades, Kidd didn’t rule out the possibility of Doncic surpassing Nowitzki as the all-time greatest player in franchise history should he earn a ring this early into his career.

13 Jun 24 Jimm Sallivan

Luka Dončić Was Not Impressed With Refs in Game 3 vs. Celtics

Luka Doncic fouled out in the fourth quarter of Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday night as the Boston Celtics defeated his Dallas Mavericks 106-99 at American Airlines Center.

Doncic finished with 27 points on 27 shots before he headed to the bench to watch his team's comeback fall short. His fifth and six fouls came in the fourth quarter on close calls that no Mavericks fan would ever agree with.

After the game. Doncic was asked about the whistles that went against him in the fourth. His response likely doesn't warrant a fine from the league, but reading between the lines, it doesn't seem like he agreed with the calls.

"I mean, I don't know," Doncic said. "We couldn't play physical so ... I don't know. I don't want to say nothing, but you know, six fouls in the NBA Finals? When I'm basically I'm like this. C'mon, man. [Be] better than that."

Here's that full Q&A https://t.co/c1xgCX3Bis pic.twitter.com/4OyQ6gs5GJ
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) June 13, 2024

While Mavs fans will certainly disagree with the calls that went against Doncic, everyone can agree that the officials were pretty bad in the fourth quarter. It seemed like everything was allowed early in the game, but by the end the only time officials didn't blow the whistle was when Derrick White grabbed Tim Hardaway Jr. right in front of a referee on purpose and pointed at the referee to confirm he was trying to foul and there was no call.

You can’t tell me changes don’t need to be made to officiating. Derrick white clearly intentionally fouled Hardaway looked at the ref, says foul, ref still doesn’t make the call. Refs have been horrible throughout all of the season but this is just embarrassing. pic.twitter.com/DdeKq8GCWd
— Fsncold (@HookEm4Life_) June 13, 2024

Just another night in the NBA.

4 Jun 24 Jimm Sallivan

Luka Dončić Denies Kristaps Porizingis Feud After Chandler Parsons’s Claim

The reunion between Kyrie Irving and the Boston Celtics won't be the only meeting of a player with their former team during the 2024 NBA Finals. Kristaps Porzingis will also be up against his old squad, having played for the Dallas Mavericks back from 2019 to '21.

On Monday, Fanduel's Chandler Parsons suggested there was some bad blood between Porzingis and Luka Dončić stemming from their time as a tandem in Dallas.

Dončić addressed the claims from Parsons on Tuesday, indicating he and Porzingis have a good relationship, despite their on-court efforts not yielding much success, and added that he's scarcely ever even spoken to Parsons.

"I've talked to Chandler Parsons maybe twice in my life, so I don't know how he would know... But me and KP have a good relationship," said Dončić, via Joey Mistretta of ClutchPoints.

Chandler Parsons previously said that Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis don’t have a good relationship.
Doncic shut down that narrative and said he’s only talked to Paraons “maybe twice in my life.”#Mavericks #OneforDallas pic.twitter.com/uA6UcnKbuu
— Joey Mistretta (@JoeyMistretta_) June 4, 2024

Porzingis joined the Mavs and was paired alongside Dončić with the goal of making an elite offensive tandem. Expectations were not quite met, however, and the plug was pulled on the experiment after a little more than two seasons.

They've both since gone on to find success, with Porzingis playing a vital role for the Celtics as they earned the league's best record in the regular season and Dončić emerging as arguably the sport's best player and leading his Mavericks to their first NBA Finals appearance since 2011.

Porzingis was also asked about the situation with Dončić in Dallas, though he didn't want to spend too much time on the topic.

"It didn't work out. I think it was–yeah. I don't know, I'm not even thinking about that right now. I'm focused on the job ahead. We can talk about that later," said Porzingis, via Noa Dalzell of SB Nation.

Kristaps Porzingis didn't want to get into the weeds of his relationship with Luka / his Mavericks tenure today:
"It didn't work out. I think it was - yeah. I don't know, I'm not even thinking about that right now. I'm focused on the job ahead. We can talk about that later." pic.twitter.com/GU2S0vrVAs
— Noa Dalzell 🏀 (@NoaDalzellNBA) June 4, 2024

Game 1 of the NBA Finals tips off on Thursday, June 8 at 8:30 p.m. EST from the TD Garden in Boston.

13 Jun 24 Jimm Sallivan

Joe Mazzulla, Celtics Deploy Interesting Tactic to Prepare for Adversity

When the Boston Celtics jumped out to a 91-70 lead at the start of the fourth quarter against the Dallas Mavericks during Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday night, many watching believed the game was over.

The Mavericks seemed spent, and the Celtics were firing on all cylinders offensively for what seemed like the first time in the series.

Then Dallas started getting stops, the crowd got back into the game, and the Mavericks were all of a sudden delivering on the offensive end to the tune of a 20-2 run that eventually cut the Boston lead all the way down to one.

Boston closed the game with a 13-6 spurt following Luka Doncic's sixth foul with just over four minutes to play, and closed out Game 3 staring adversity square in the face - something that Celtics teams of the recent past may not have done. So how does Boston prepare for moments of intense adversity? It's an interesting approach, according to Celtics star Jayson Tatum.

"Joe [Mazzulla] does a great job of showing us clips and things from different sports," Tatum began. "He's a big UFC fan, showing us fights of people that...I don't know the terminology of UFC, but put him in a chokehold and s---. Like they're about to tap out, and to see the guy or woman relaxing because they know they're about to win and you give the other person life. Just trying to translate that to the game of basketball where the closer you are to winning, the closer they are to surviving. Basically just trying to remind us in a group that we've still got a long way to go. We still have to play the right way. We still gotta win. They're not going to quit and we should expect the best from them from here on out."

JT on how Joe Mazzulla uses UFC film to help the Celtics and motivate them to never quit pic.twitter.com/A3VQUfvHUY
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) June 13, 2024

The Celtics take a 3-0 series lead into Friday night's Game 4, as Boston looks to raise banner No. 18, while the Mavericks will fight to keep their season alive.

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Jason Kidd Says Luka Dončić Could Be Greatest Maverick Ever With NBA Title

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