Luka Doncic and Jayson Tatum met in the 2024 NBA Finals and could be the two faces of the next generation with the most success.
Doncic has always been a highly-rated prospect, but he had to prove his skills in the NBA to earn respect. Tatum wasn’t aware of how dangerous Luka was until a 2021 encounter between the Mavs and the Celtics, with former C’s Evan Turner and Jeff Teague telling the story.
Evan Turner: “I was the first one to tell him (Jayson Tatum) how cold Luka is. ‘This man is kinda lazy, he’s just not doing enough for me, he whining’. Bro look at him, he’s the man. Luka him, he not worried about no regular season game. So he said, ‘You sure he’s good?’ I told him, ‘Bro, he’s really him.’ In the clutch, if it gets close, we not gonna win. They call a timeout when they’re down like two points.”
Jeff Teague: “He hit the shot, looked at him, and yelled, ‘I told you!’ I was like, damn that motherf****er cold! We celebrating and sh*t, I’m like, ‘JT, that’s some bullsh*t.’ What made it so fire is that we go in there and JT is like, ‘Luka better than me?’ ET was like, ‘Damn near.'”
Doncic came into the NBA as a basketball prodigy, something he’s shown since his first NBA season where he won Rookie of the Year. He’s been All-NBA First Team for every single year of his career after his rookie season, with the 2020-21 season being a defining year for his rivalry with the Celtics.
Luka has two game-winning buzzer-beaters against Boston, with Teague and Turner describing one of those in this video.
Doncic averaged 29.9 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 7.5 assists against the Celtics and has a record of 5-6 in regular-season contests. Tatum averages 26.1 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 3.9 assists against Luka’s Mavericks and will only be concerned with the 4-1 Playoff record he has over Luka which led to his first championship win this summer.
Luka averaged 29.2 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 5.6 assists in the 2024 NBA Finals against Tatum’s Celtics, while Tatum averaged 22.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 7.2 assists on a paltry 38.8% from the field, leading to teammate Jaylen Brown being awarded Finals MVP.
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