Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban believes that retired player Dirk Nowitzki and Mavs superstar Luka Doncic could have been the next great Jordan-Pippen combo had they been teammates in their primes.
Per Gerard Borguet of FanSided, the outspoken owner made his case that the European stars would have been as great as the legendary duo of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, who led the Chicago Bulls to six titles in the '90s.
“Oh my God,” Cuban said. “We only got to see little glimpses when Dirk was at the end, which, could you imagine if they were both in their prime? Oh my goodness. That’s MJ and Scottie again.”
At first glance, the MJ-Pip and Dirk-Luka combo couldn't have been more different. Jordan and Pippen formed a terrifying one-two punch at the wing position and were both known as lockdown defenders.
The Nowitzki and Doncic tandem with the Mavs, meanwhile, would be more of a traditional bigman-point guard pairing that we see in the league nowadays.
The case can be made that Los Angeles Clippers swingmen Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are the ones who resemble the MJ-Pip duo the most in this modern era.
Although it was short-lived, last year's Nowitzki and Doncic pairing was indeed fun to watch not just for Mavs fans, but for the entire league as well. The pair had a playful mentor-mentee relationship, which continued upon Dirk's retirement.
Granted that the seven-foot German was just a shell of his former self, averaging 7.3 points and 3.1 rebounds, while shooting 35.9 percent from the field and 31.2 percent from downtown in his farewell tour.
Doncic, on the other hand, deservingly won Rookie of the Year after stellar averages of 21.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 6.0 assists last season.
The Mavs have ushered in the Doncic era just a year later, as the Slovenian stud upped his numbers across the board and is a frontrunner for the MVP award in just his sophomore season.
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