A superstar ever since he graced the NBA, Dallas Mavericks’ five-time All-Star Luka Dončić is already off to a roaring start to begin the season and yet another opponent of his gave him massive plaudits.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Scoring 40 points and grabbing 10 rebounds against the Phoenix Suns on Saturday night, Dončić was highly praised by Suns center and fellow European Jusuf Nurkić for how he made it look so easy.
“I feel like I call some players ‘cheat codes’ in this league, and he is one of them for sure,” Nurkić said about Dončić. “When you look at the box score, you be like it’s like 2K (video game) sometimes like KD (Durant), Book (Booker), like Joker (Nikola Jokić), like Luka. There are some players with 40/15/10, you just don’t know how they get those. He is just that good.”
“I feel like I call some players ‘cheat codes’ in this league and he is definitely one of them for sure.”
Our @AlecCipollini asked Phoenix Suns C Jusuf Nurkic about Luka Doncic after he scored 40 points for the Mavericks.#SunsUp #NBA #MFFL pic.twitter.com/zc3KpbMvdV
— Burn City Suns ☀️ (@BurnCitySuns) October 27, 2024
In Dallas’ first two games of the season so far, the Slovenian has back-to-back double-doubles. Dončić nearly had a triple-double in the season-opener against the San Antonio Spurs with 28 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.
As the No. 3 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, the 6-foot-6 guard already has a host of decorated accomplishments he has achieved six seasons before this year. Dončić has made the All-NBA First Team since 2020, was the 2019 Rookie of the Year, was named to the 2019 All-NBA First Team and last season’s scoring champion in the league. He was the first European to lead the NBA in single-season scoring ever.
Along with Kyrie Irving and PJ Washington, Dončić helped the Mavericks come out of the Western Conference and reach the NBA Finals this year. Dallas ultimately fell to the Boston Celtics in a five-game championship series, 4-1.
Though not playing a full 82-game season once with the Mavericks, he has averaged 28.7 points, 8.7 rebounds and 8.3 assists in 402 career games (all starts). Last season, he finished with 33.9 points, 9.8 assists and 9.2 rebounds per game, all career highs.
With the Mavericks in a strong Western Conference of multiple powerhouse teams, they will need Dončić to continue dominating and lead them going forward.
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Reporter Alec Cipollini covers the Phoenix Mercury, Suns and ASU Athletics for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @AlecCipollini
