Many consider Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Dončić to be the front-runner for this season's Rookie of the Year Award. The fact that the expectations are already this massive for the newest member of the Mavs, despite the fact that he has yet to play a single minute of basketball in U.S. soil, proves that Dončić is truly special.
Slovenian basketball legend Šarūnas Jasikevičius, who according to his Wikipedia page is “often considered as one of the best Lithuanian and European point guard players,” has given some insight on why he believes Dončić is set for greatness.
Note that the quotes below were originally in Slovene and was loosely translated via Google Translate. Apologies if there are errors in the translation.
“I think Luka has everything he needs to become a great player. There were many players who had everything but they failed. What separates him from the rest is that he is able to explicitly read games, which is uncommon at his age. He sees things that can not be learned or those that a 30-year veteran can not see. With him, everything is natural.”
Jasikevičius went on to underline Dončić's unparalleled success in the Euroleague.
“It is not a matter of Slovenian bias, but it is impossible for anyone else to do the same things in the Euroleague that Luka did. Of course, this was very helpful in his experience because he played at this level for three or four years. That's why it was not new to him. He was accustomed to it. But still, there is no way for these guys to do what he does. That's not possible. I played college, in Euroleague, practically everywhere, and I know that this Euroleague is really a great competition. It's really demanding and how a young guy in such a big club does it, it's amazing. It's not a small team in which he always has the ball, it's a big responsibility. And then his numbers are goo, played in the system, in an extremely strong team and led them to victory. These boys from college have no idea what they are talking about at this point and what Luka can do.”
These is definitely a lot of praise coming from someone who saw Dončić's rise first hand. As he pointed out, having played in the Euroleague himself, Jasikevičius is in a great position to truly appreciate what this teenager has achieved at such a young age.
Now whether or not Dončić will be able to successfully transition his game to the NBA level and live up to all the hype surrounding him, remains to be seen.
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