Dirk Nowitzki in his NBA Hall Of Famer career has provided fans with countless unforgettable moments. Nowitzki not only made himself an intricate part of the Dallas Mavericks during his playing days but also went on to become a special adviser for the franchise.
Due to his loyalty to the Mavs and his current duties, the German forward forged a trustworthy relationship with Mark Cuban, the minority owner of the franchise. Recently the billionaire expressed his view on Mavs’ current heartbeat, Luka Doncic and Nowitzki duly seconded that opinion.
Dirk Nowitzki backs Mark Cuban’s Luka Doncic remark
After revealing how he managed to acquire the Mavs star, Luka Doncic at the last moment on draft night, Mark Cuban opened up about his admiration for the Slovenian. He boldly claimed that the guard is a better player than the franchise’s legend Dirk Nowitzki. Expressing his utmost love for Nowitzki, Cuban further predicted that the German would agree with him on that.
While talking to Kevin Hart on NBA Unplugged during the Mavericks versus Miami Heat broadcast, Dirk Nowitzki was asked to share his opinion about the Mavs’ shareholder’s comment. The German forward started by saying, “The good thing is that Mark doesn’t know anything about basketball”. Confessing that he was just “Kidding”, Nowitzki added, “Mark’s my guy I got to say he’s spot-on. What Luka is doing… I was never capable of doing honestly… The kid has a way better package than I ever had.”
The former champion further praised Doncic in an amusing way for breaking his records by appearing in way fewer games. The generational talent of Luka Doncic has brought him enormous achievements in his brief career, but he still has a long way to go to fill in Nowitzki’s shoes.
Dirk Nowitzki and Luka Doncic stat comparison
Dirk Nowitzki and Luka Doncic are two of the biggest players of Mavericks who have imprinted their names on the franchise’s history books with their exceptional talents.
In his remarkably long (21-season) NBA career, Nowitzki has a 60.2% winning record in the regular campaign and 47.6% in playoffs whereas the 24-year-old has 56.8% in regular season and 42.9% in playoffs.
Luka Doncic has an average of 28.7 points, 8.7 rebounds and 8.3 assists in the 400 regular season games while Dirk Nowitzki averaged 20.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 2.4 assists by appearing in 1522 games for the Dallas Mavericks.
When it comes to earning prestigious awards, Doncic fails to compete with Nowitzki who has an NBA championship title, and an MVP award which Luka will certainly win in the future considering his abilities if not for this season. The German is also the 3-point contest winner in which Luka has never participated. However, the guard turned up for the skills competition twice which the veteran didn’t.
With their playoff appearance confirmed, the Mavs will bank on Luka Doncic’s exceptional form to land the franchise’s first-ever NBA Championship since 2011 in which Dirk Nowitzki was the NBA Finals MVP.
