Yes, it is a fact that Luka is playing like one of the best basketball players the NBA has year ever and it is also a fact that he is just 20 years old now and might have a couple of more levels to reach when his hits his career’s prime in the next four to five years.
The 2019-2020 season has seen the young star simply take over the entire league with some uber-excited pundits even ready to give him the MVP title for the way he has led his Dallas Mavericks to a plus-600 record this early in the regular season.
With the end of November, Luka became only the third played to average a 30-point triple-double in a calendar month after Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook and is bordering a triple-double during the season with 30.8 points, 9.9 rebounds and 9.6 assists.
But the most important point is that the Mavericks are winning some of the big games and Luka has been in the centre of all the W’s while scoring in clutch situations or making game-changing plays with his teammates. With 18 games under their belt, Luka and Co. currently have a 12-8 record.
The Mavs look like a completely different team as compared to last year. Dirk Nowitzki has called time on his game, Harrison Barnes and DeAndre Jordan have moved to different teams and Kristaps Porzingis is back on the court (although struggling to find his lost mojo). The 20-year-old has taken this opportunity to become a true floor-general and everyone loves him for the wonders he is doing on the court.
But here’s the catch. We have seen something this phenomenal before and we have frowned upon it like it was socially and culturally unacceptable or was against the spirit of the game.
Russell Westbrook did exactly the same last year when he averaged a triple-double but the fans and critics of the game were criticising Brodie and categorised him as a “stat-padder”. This thing is, Russ’ Oklahoma City Thunder had the same record as the Mavs do right now. They too won 12 out of their first 18 matches and Russ often found himself to be as the centre of things as well.
So is it Westbrook’s aggressive attitude towards the rest of the league that made everyone hate him or was it the fact that Luka is doing all of that at such a young age that people love him so much?
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