He is Luka from Slovenia, First Of His Name
He has arrived on basketball's biggest stage in his 6th year. Is taking the crown next?
On October 25th of this past season, we were on the dawn of another Mavericks season. Yes, it was right in the middle of the Rangers' surge in the World Series and the Cowboys' sprint into first place, but the Mavericks' buzz was significant.
It felt like a crossroads for this franchise had come to a full boil.
On that day, the Mavericks were opening their new season in San Antonio to help debut the professional career of the new “next one,” as Victor Wembanyama would start his own journey to attempt to fulfill his destiny.
Almost a year ago, I felt liberated to write about Luka if I wanted to do so, because that is what this entire newsletter has been inspired to be.
Just 32 weeks ago, and I decided my clever way to “preview the Dallas Mavericks' 2023-24 season” was to make it all about Luka, even if that was intentionally missing the boat a bit.
The Mavericks journey starts all over again
You see, it was never only about Luka Dončić. That is the type of nonsense that this space normally fights against. That is the ESPN/FS1 screaming shows' simplistic silliness that only makes fans dumber. Team sports are certainly not just about the best player "willing" his team to the top of a mountain. Connor McDavid was the best player in the NHL at age 20, but only now, at age 27 and in his ninth season, has his team finally found a path to the final round in a similar journey. We know how Mike Trout has never done anything in October, and despite being the best baseball player of an entire generation, he looks at the Rangers’ rookie Evan Carter celebrating a World Series before he experienced a single Opening Day in the big leagues and must find jealousy abounding.
It was never only about Luka, but as someone who always thought he could be only as great as he insisted upon, I suggested it was.
That is the thing about these superstars. Yes, they are bound by the constructs of a team situation, but it is their journey and their legacy. In the end, when the legends are assembled, they go alone. Speeches may include mentions and acknowledgments of their teammates, coaches, GMs, franchises, agents, parents, trainers, or even spouses, but in the big room of legends, either you got it done or you did not.
You will be the one molded in the statue or the one mocked for failure. So, if we can agree that they are dependent on circumstances outside their reach, hopefully, we can also agree that there are many things they do actually control. And that often can be blurred in real-time by legions of people who want to influence the narratives and maybe even influence the protagonist by whispering who is at fault, and it will almost never be the fault of our golden boy.
This blame game often will end in the man wanting to leave and find a new reality elsewhere because that is what the wall of noise says is the solution. Go where you are not surrounded by dolts and where they will properly appreciate your rare talents. They will understand how to build around you, golden boy. These people don’t get it.
So, yeah, as the Mavericks entered 2023-24, I had real concerns that we might be entering the beginning of the end if things didn’t change fast. We probably had two years to make it happen. By the end of the 2025 season, if he was still frustrated, he could begin to squeeze Dallas to “get what they could” for him as he handpicked his next era and new destination. And as we know, the line would be around the block to lure him to their franchise at age 26 or so.
That is why everyone locally looked at the Mavericks franchise with urgency and anxiety. But, I thought it made sense to actually look at him. Who did he want to be? Did he want to follow Dirk Nowitzki’s path of one career for one franchise? That seemed doubtful, of course. He grew up at Real Madrid, and if there is one thing the football icons at Real Madrid have taught us, it is that they think nothing of dividing their careers into three or four parts with the pinnacle being Madrid. Start at your first club, upgrade to a better one, and then finally to the top where you can win with your fellow superheroes in a gang like the Avengers. That way, you stack the odds and never feel the individual weight of the world on your shoulders. You have to be pretty rare to want to take on the world on your terms when there seems to be an easier path – especially if the money is pretty much identical.
Why try to win where you started when there is an easier path elsewhere? What type of masochist takes a tougher path because they want to prove they can? Not only did world football icons do this, but this is now the way of the world basketball icon. LeBron James took the journey and seems happy and fulfilled, and the public doesn’t even blame him one bit. Maybe Dirk Nowitzki, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson are too old to understand why you would never stay with one franchise anymore.
When I wrote that piece in October of 2023, I found myself trying to get inside his head. It wasn’t very interesting to demand the Mavericks “figure it out” on his behalf because everyone else will do that. I was more interested in how badly he wanted it to be figured out here in Dallas. That was the key to unlocking the real mystery. Was he going to push himself to be a Dallas legend, or would he just do what everyone seems to do these days – look for an easier path in an easier place?
I must tell you that in these 32 weeks, we have seen enormous growth from him in such an encouraging manner that concern about his future seems silly again.
Here is a portion of what I wrote at the dawn of a new season:
These stories are made more interesting because there is always adversity. We can hardly find a single career narrative in basketball superstar history where there isn’t a wall. The weaknesses of the collective group, perhaps even their very best player are exposed and exploited. For the prince that was promised, he may literally be finding difficulty excelling for the first time since he was a boy.
Luka Dončić was wearing it on his face last year. His joy was gone. He was dealing with failure and doubt. It didn’t break him, but you could tell he was fine with taking a break.
To me, that is the story of this 2023-24.
How personally did Luka take last season?
Because, if he is what we think he is, this season is going to be wonderful as he reveals the answers he found in the mirror.
I don’t know if the reasons for the specific answer are as important as the answer itself. Although, I do think this is where the Kyrie Irving component has been important to consider. In a turn of events nobody expected, Kyrie has become the big brother that Luka didn’t know he needed.
Was that the design of the Mavericks brass when they took the huge risk of trading for Irving or some sort of added-on surprise bonus? The Kyrie portion of this is as unexpected by the basketball world and probably deserves its own space to wonder.
Kyrie is the Answer to Both Mavericks Questions
In fact, Nico Harrison, Jason Kidd, Mark Cuban, Kyrie Irving, Dereck Lively, Daniel Gafford, PJ Washington, and many others deserve their credit in all of this. But, hopefully, that goes without saying. It does take a team to win in team sports.
But it also takes a superstar who insists on taking more steps towards greatness, even when “good enough” is often good enough in today’s climate for so many. We see guys who appear to be on the path level off. I surmise, in many cases, that this is because they become satisfied in their own skin and begin to blame others. If Luka is that guy, then he actually wasn’t the true chosen one after all.
No, the true chosen one, if there is such a thing, has a personal desire to conquer worlds no matter what. Not for the money or the fame. Not for acceptance or approval. He does it because he needs to win no matter what.
It is now June of 2024. The Dallas Mavericks are one of two teams left in the NBA Playoffs, and they play the Boston Celtics on Thursday in Luka’s first NBA Finals appearance. It is either his first of many trips here or maybe the only shot of his life at the big trophy. We don’t know.
But what we do know is that he has ascended this season to near the very top of his sport. He has improved his game to a level where there are probably no players on the planet who are truly better than him. He has closed off and raised his weak spots to where they are clearly not very weak anymore. He has changed his disposition quite a bit, despite still showing glimpses of the old him. He is more in control of everything than he has ever been, even if he is not quite a full master of his emotions.
His play? It is the best it has ever been, and as he has regained his health in these playoffs, he is peaking at the toughest point of the journey. The Mavericks are a significant underdog in these finals, and yet you feel very odd betting against Dončić when he is at this level. He almost appears to be daring people to lose money siding against him.
This will clearly be a proper final battle. Boston, the best team in the league all year, is equipped to deal with him as well as anyone, but is anyone really equipped for that job? He now has a self-belief and swagger that emit the idea that he will figure you out and you will not stop him. When he goes into a hostile setting—and what could be more hostile than Boston waiting for a team with Kyrie?—he cannot wait to turn 20,000 voices against him, only to then systematically silence them with fear and anguish.
Three Thoughts - Mavs Move On To Finals
The question appears to be this: Will these finals reveal that he needs one more lesson, necessitating a return in one or two years to climb the last level to basketball immortality, or are we witnessing that step here in real-time and just don’t know it yet?
I wanted to see him take a massive step forward this year to prove that he was that guy, that he wanted to win here, and that he was capable of doing something about it. Not only have I seen it, but the entire world has now seen that the greatest basketball player on the planet resides in Dallas, Texas, and is from the tiny country of Slovenia, of all places.
Not only has he taken a step, but he appears to be running up that hill. To beat Boston in four of the next seven games will be a titanic task, but it could also be the final level in winning over his harshest critics. His style is not for everyone, partly because he wants to be a villain more than your favorite enemy. He wants to show you, as he puts your favorite team to the sword, that he is better than them, and he wants to do it at your arena even more than in his own.
The good news is that he doesn’t care about any of that. He just wants the trophy and knows the rest will take care of itself. After these last six weeks, I am now certain he has what it takes to win it all. I am just not sure if it will be in 2024 or very soon. But we are all about to find out.
This is going to be great theater. It appears he took the disappointments of past failures very personally and now wants to make the entire NBA pay for it. Only Boston is left in his path.
Maybe I’m overly influenced by what we’ve witnessed the last six weeks. But if I were a gambling man, which I’m not, I would find it hard to bet against Luka and the cast in his reality play that has left them waiting to be the stars who take the final curtain call, the maestros who receive the fans adulation, called out again and again as the crowd’s applause demands one more bow.
I am not a basketball expert, even though I played in high school and have watched generations of great college and professional players come and go. I’ve seen more talented teams, including the one the Mavericks will face starting this week. But the 2011 Dallas squad that won the team’s only championship trophy, was not the most talented bunch on the floor most nights of their playoffs. Talent alone is not enough.
The little I’ve seen of the Boston Celtics suggests they are a team that plays down to the level of their competition, a trait that has derailed more than one seemingly inevitable “champion,” in more sports than just basketball. They tend to live by the three-point shot and are very good at it. But the three-pointer can become a double-edged sword. Miss a few shots, and the doubts start creeping in, then spread as a Covid-like plague through the rest of the players. Because they are so talented, these Celtics carry the burden of expectation, a weight exponentially multiplied by the multiple runs of championship teams in their storied history. Can they stand the pressure? Lose one game at home, let the crowd turn on them, and they will have their mettle tested in a way most can only imagine.
These Mavericks, after three rounds of playoffs where they were never favored, do seem like a team of destiny. With arguably the best player in the world and another trusted star, a team full of role players willing to do what it takes to complement their superstars and a defensive mindset that throttles the best team offenses, they possess the ingredients needed to succeed as an underdog again.
Maybe this is all just a mirage. But three Western Conference playoff opponents will tell you these Mavericks are for real. Get ready Boston! Dallas is coming for you!!!
Whatever the outcome, I can not wait for this Finals to begin. I can’t watch any sport on TV right now that has the same flavor as this upcoming series, it’s as if all the others have dimmed in brightness and color and this sentence right here says all their is to say about why:
“When he goes into a hostile setting—and what could be more hostile than Boston waiting for a team with Kyrie?—he cannot wait to turn 20,000 voices against him, only to then systematically silence them with fear and anguish.”
Good grief,Bob! This read and this series has me ready to don the sword and face the Bolton’s head on like Jon Snow!