Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic played the best season of his career in 2023-24, and some even think he was robbed of the MVP.
Doncic averaged 33.9 points, 9.2 rebounds, 9.8 assists, and 1.4 steals per game while shooting 48.7 percent from the field and 38.2 percent from downtown. His improvement as a shooter off the catch helped him take his game to the next level, but that may not even be his biggest improvement from last season.
Doncic took huge strides as a defender despite his showing from later in the NBA Playoffs that likely stemmed from all of his injuries, and one NBA legend from the Los Angeles Lakers isn’t buying Doncic’s game.
Former Lakers forward and Hall of Famer Michael Cooper took some personal shots at Doncic’s game during the Showtime Podcast with Michael Cooper, and he made an outrageous take about Doncic.
Cooper was playing “Start, Bench, Cut,” and he decided to bench Doncic in favor of Damian Lillard. Cooper starting Lillard was a huge mistake on its own, but his analysis of Doncic’s game got personal.
“Luka gives you that triple-double almost any night, but he’s too slow for me,” Cooper said. “If he wasn’t a scorer, I would cut him….To me, he is lazy, doesn’t hustle back on defense.”
Cooper credited Doncic for his scoring expertise, but he took personal shots at him by calling him “lazy.” It’s undeniable that Doncic gets caught arguing with the referees too much which causes him to slack back when running back on defense, but to call him lazy is a bit too far
Doncic exerts so much effort on offense already, and for Cooper to come at his effort on the court is a questionable take. Most of the time, Doncic gives his all on both ends and when he wants to lock down and play solid defense, he can.
Doncic’s defense is one of the weaker parts of his game, but starting Lillard over him is absolutely wild. Doncic is unanimously one of the best players in the NBA, and Lillard is an aging guard who is already outside of his prime.
Criticisms of Doncic’s defense are fair, but almost everything else about his game is elite. There are always going to be weaknesses in players’ games, but Doncic’s strengths far outweigh his weaknesses.
He remains one of the best players in the league, and he has the chance to go win his first-ever MVP this next season.
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