It's no secret that Luka Doncic and Dallas Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki have a good relationship. After all, Nowitzki has passed the torch to the young Slovenian as the next superstar for the Mavs. During an interview, Doncic was asked by Malika Andrews about wanting to play with Nowitzki again, to which the 24-year-old had a hilarious response:
āHe can't move no more, but he can shoot it still,ā Doncic said, smiling.
At least the acknowledgment for Dirk's shooting is still there. After all, Nowitzki is known for his signature one-legged fadeaway jumper āthat unstoppable move which propelled the Mavs to a championship back in 2011.
How Doncic proved that he belongs in the big league
As for Doncic, he still had to make a name for himself back when he entered the NBA in 2018. Despite being a star in Europe, people had their doubts, considering how a number of European prospects in the past did not transition well to the big league. Dirk himself said in a podcast that he was skeptical of Doncic at first:
āThe end of my career wasn't pretty. We were struggling. We needed a little spark plug to change things. I didn't think it was going to be this kid,ā Nowitzki said via Showtime Basketball. āIs he quick enough? Is he athletic enough to go by guys like he is in Europe? So there were plenty of doubts there, from everybody on the team.ā
However, after Doncic's first few workouts with the team, Dirk's doubts started to melt away.
ā(In pre-camp workouts) guys were trying to test him a little bit. And you can already see that this kid's got something about him. He's got that swag. He knows how to playā¦he was flashing some of the talent,ā Nowitzki said.
Dirk was skeptical about Luka at first.
But after spending more time with him, he saw the @dallasmavsā vision.
Watch the latest episode of All The Smoke with @swish41 on our YouTube.#MFFL pic.twitter.com/OU3ALiqB9v
ā SHOWTIME Basketball (@shobasketball) December 4, 2023
From then on, Luka Doncic's rise to stardom never reached a roadblock, and now, he has plenty of believers, one of which includes the greatest German basketball player of all time.
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