Kidd says Doncic deserves comparison with Michael Jordan after scoring heroics
Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd raised more than a few eyebrows on Tuesday when he compared his star player, Luka Doncic, to the NBA’s alltime greats.
Doncic has been on a tear recently, scoring 73 points against the Atlanta Hawks on Friday. In a three-game span, he is averaging 48.7 points and 13.0 assists a game and followed his 73 points against the Hawks with 28 points, 10 rebounds and 17 assists against the Sacramento Kings.
In an appearance on Dallas radio show The Downbeat on Tuesday, Kidd said that Doncic had already overtaken another European star, Dirk Nowitzki, a 14-time All-Star who led the Mavericks to the NBA title in 2011.
“He’s better than Dirk,” said Kidd, who played alongside Nowitzki in the Mavs’ title winning season. “He’s in the atmosphere of [Michael Jordan], the best to ever do it, LeBron [James], Kobe [Bryant]. And so, just to appreciate what this young man’s doing at the age of 24, [it] is something that Dallas has never seen. I’ve said this internally: He is better than Dirk. He does things that Dirk could never do, and now is the opportunity of getting the right people around him to ultimately win a championship.”
Doncic averages 32.5 points a game in the playoffs, second only to Jordan. But the 24-year-old has only led his team past the first-round of the playoffs once, when they reached the Western Conference finals in 2022. Kidd does not see that as a problem.
“This young man is 24 and is breaking all the records that stand in front of him,” Kidd said. “He’s a winner, and his ultimate goal is to win a championship. And he will get there and not just win one, but he will win multiple when it’s all said and done.”
As for Doncic himself, he appears interested in more humdrum matters.
“I’m tired,” Doncic said after Saturday’s win over the Kings. “I can’t wait to go to sleep, honestly.”