3. Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks
The Mavericks are going to be one of the more intriguing teams to follow once the season resumes at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, FL, with games starting on July 30. The biggest reason for that is the presence of the potential MVP contender and second-year star guard Luka.
Dallas sits in a playoff spot right now, but Doncic’s play alongside the former New York Knicks big man Kristaps Porzingis, will play a huge role in what seed they enter the postseason in. The Western Conference is going to be very hotly contested in the last few games of the regular season in the “bubble”.
Nonetheless, Doncic had a true breakthrough season in which he showed similar parts of his developing skill set to someone like Jordan is his former Bulls superstar teammate and forward Scottie Pippen. Doncic has that ability to just make the game look slower around him. Even if he lacks the overall quickness and athleticism compared to his opposing defender, he can still work around them with ease.
When the Mavericks took down the Bulls back in January and point guard Kris Dunn ran into foul trouble early on in the first half, it proved the lethality of Doncic’s offensive arsenal.
In the season that is currently on pause, Doncic is averaging 28.7 points per game, 9.3 rebounds, 8.7 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.2 blocks. He’s shooting 46.1 percent from the field, 31.8 percent from beyond the arc, and 75.2 percent from the free-throw line.
Overall, the commonalities in the skill set and production of Luka and MJ lie in their feel for the game and natural scoring touch that is really hard to find. Jordan averaged just over one more point per game for his career than Luka is averaging this season. They also shot similar percentages from the field and from downtown. A career offensive rating of 118 for Jordan compared to 116 for Doncic this season, and similar offensive box plus/minus ratings further proves the point.