Despite having arguably the best player in the world right now, the Dallas Mavericks are currently outside the playoff picture in the Western Conference. If you ask Charles Barkley, the Mavs are not even going to win an NBA championship so long as Luka Doncic continues to carry the type of burden he has on his shoulders for Dallas.

“[The Mavs] are never going to win a championship the way they play right now because it’s all Luka, all the time,” Barkley said about the Mavs and their seeming over-dependence on Doncic.

The Mavs are always going to go as far as where Doncic takes them, but Dallas must also be aware that he can't do it all on his own, which is also a reason why they just signed veteran point guard Kemba Walker. Last season, the Mavs had Jalen Brunson — and Kristaps Porzingis before he got traded —  to ease the load off Doncic, but with both players gone, Doncic appears to have taken an additional workload on the court.

In the 2021-22 NBA season, Doncic posted a 37.4 usage percentage. So far in the 2022-23 NBA campaign, there's a slight uptick in that number, with the Slovenian superstar owning a 37.8 usage percentage. Further highlighting the immense responsibility of Doncic is the fact that he leads the NBA this season in usage rate.

Doncic is leading the Mavs in points (33.1), rebounds (8.7), assists (8.4), and steals (1.7) per game, while also taking nearly 10 more attempts from the field than any other Dallas player this season.