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Dallas Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki continues to make an impact on the team years after his retirement. This time, it looks like he is becoming a great role model and mentor for Mavs superstar Luka Doncic.
In a recent interview on 105.3 The Fan, Nowitzki opened up about his relationship with Luka. The German icon shared he tries to mentor the Slovenian wonderboy “a little bit,” though he admitted that Doncic is really good and already a better player than he ever was.
“He's so mature already that it's hard for me to tell him something because he's so good and so mature already. Certain things that I see, I talk to him about it and he seems to be open for it,” Nowitzkki added, per Grant Afseth of Sports Illustrated.
But if there is one thing Luka Doncic seems to have taken from him, it's this technique he used to prevent himself from being too emotional in games–a problem that has hounded Doncic until today. And what is this strategy exactly? Well, it's singing a song in his head.
“There was this thing that I used to try to do. I remember I used to talk a lot about it in the '06 Final run. I said ‘Just to take some pressure off myself and get my mind free, I sometimes sing a song.' It helps me calm down and gets me in a good place. I'm not tense and thinking about certain stuff or getting too emotional,” Nowitzki added.
“So I did tell Luka that secret one time. In tense moments, in moments that you're going to take someone's head off, just smile and maybe interact with your teammates, or put something else in your mind. We'll see if it works, or if it has has worked for him. This kid is so special, I believe the sky is the limit.”
For those unaware, Luka Doncic's constant whining on the referees has put him in trouble, with his technical foul count piling up quickly because he has become too emotional. As he was close to getting suspended, he was able to hold himself back by singing a song in his head.
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After a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers in mid-March, Doncic revealed this “new” trick he discovered, adding that he's picking songs in Slovenian or Serbian since those are the languages he's most familiar with.
“It’s a funny thing–I just start singing a song in my head. One of my favorite songs I pick and just start singing and let [the frustration] pass,” Doncic said at the time.
Doncic still got his 15th technical foul of the season a couple of weeks ago, but that is already a massive improvement for his part after he seemed to be on pace to record a massive amount of techs. Clearly, he still needs to do a better job of controlling his emotions though since he can't afford to accumulate more of such calls come the postseason.
Fortunately for him, Dirk Nowitzki is more than ready to guide him and be a mentor. He played for just one season with Doncic–basically just passing the Mavs torch to him–but they have developed a great relationship over the years. Hopefully, it will be enough to get Luka to have a better handle of his temperament.
Nowitzki sees nothing but greatness in him, and the Mavs legend knows Doncic is more than capable of handling such challenge.
