Mavericks: Luka Doncic and Jason Kidd earn praise from NBA's former stars
The Dallas Mavericks’ star Luka Doncic and head coach Jason Kidd have earned some significant praise from former NBA stars in the latest report.
It's commonly believed that the old heads of the game are haters whenever they are critical of today's NBA.
It's fair. Many of the older generations paved the way for the luxuries that the current NBA generation enjoys. Yet, often, the old generation doesn't receive the praise they should for their part in NBA history. Recently, however, The Athletic conducted a survey of 101 former NBA players, and Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd and star player Luka Doncic have earned the respect of the elder statesmen of the NBA.
The survey was conducted over the course of a month, and it asked the former NBA players a series of questions that looked at their perceptions of the modern-day game.
One of those questions was "who is the best current NBA player?"
The answers provided were interesting. Twenty-eight percent of respondents believed the best NBA player was LeBron James. Following James was Nikola Jokic (21.2%), Giannis Antetokounmpo (21%), Kevin Durant (11.8%), Stephen Curry (6.6%), and Luka Doncic (6.6%).
Doncic, at least to the old heads, is tied with Curry as the fifth-best player in the NBA. Though an argument could be made for Doncic to be ranked higher than fifth, his slotting is also understandable.
This season Doncic is averaging 33.1 points per game (first), 8.8 rebounds (22nd), and 8.1 assists (sixth). The 33 points per game are the highest mark of Doncic's career. He is also shooting a blistering 50 percent from the field, also a career-best. And despite the Mavericks trading for Kyrie Irving, Doncic remains a mainstay in MVP conversations.
To the question "which player do you enjoy watching the most?" Doncic was ranked fifth with 8.4% of the vote. Leading the way in that category was Curry, who claimed 28.5% of the votes.
And as for Kidd, he was ranked fifth for what coach players would want to play for with 3.8% of votes. Ahead of him are names like Steve Kerr (28.8%), Gregg Popovich (28.3%), Doc Rivers (5.4%), and Eric Spoelstra (5.4%).
Lastly, Irving and Doncic were both named as players who could have played in the old generation of the NBA. They were listed alongside names like James, Durant, Curry, and Jokic.
Feature image via Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports.
