Even Luka Doncic doesn’t think Luka Doncic deserves to be an All-Star starter
Just as there should not be an NBA All-Star game in 2021, the best player on the Dallas Mavericks should not be listed a starter for that game.
Not when his team is two games under .500.
Dallas Mavericks’ forward Luka Doncic is an example of the continued flaw in the All-Star voting process.
We all love our Luka, and while this is not a bad choice there are more deserving alternatives. His starting spot should have gone to either Utah’s Donovan Mitchell, or, my personal preference, Damian Lillard of Portland.
Utah is 24-6, with the best record in the NBA, and Mitchell is the best player on the Jazz. Portland is fourth in a stacked Western Conference with an 18-10 record, and Lillard is the Blazers’ best player.
Of the 10 players who are were selected to All-Star starters, two come from teams with losing records: Luka, and Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal.
The Mavericks are 13-15.
We should be done here.
On Saturday, after the Mavericks practiced, Luka addressed the media for the first time since he was named a starter.
“I didn’t expect to start,” Luka said. “Lillard deserved it more.”
This is not faux modesty. He’s just right.
Don’t bother splitting hairs on statistics; Mitchell, Luka and Lillard are all averaging All-Star starting numbers. On that basis, they are all worthy of starting spots.
But Lillard earned the nod based on his superior “clutch” statistics, and his team wins more games. Simply put, Lillard deserves to start, with Luka serving as a reserve.
“He’s an All-Star,” Luka said. “In a couple of years, nobody is going to know [who started or didn’t]. He’s a starter.”
He’s right.
Of course, it’s easier to say that for a guy who will be starting his second straight All-Star game, whereas Lillard has never started one.
Luka is your starter because of the fan vote, and he’s got more of a name than Dame. NBA All-Star teams are based on 50 percent fan vote, 25 percent to the media and the other 25 percent to the players. The tie breaker is fan voting.
No, I don’t have a media vote, but I am a fan.
The Dallas Mavericks ain’t the brand name that is the Los Angeles Lakers or Boston Celtics, but thanks to the success of Dirk Nowitzki, and the constant media presence of Mark Cuban, they have built a bigger following than the only team located in the Pacific Northwest.
“He has tremendous swag with the way he plays,” Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said Saturday in a zoom call with the media. He referenced Luka’s popularity on social media, which is significant in this instance.
“Those things are coming at you. He captured the world in his first year, and he has not let up on the gas pedal.”
We should not even be debating this. The NBA should not trying to stage an All-Star Game in 2021.
The league says it’s pushing the game through because of how important it is for fans in the U.S. and around the globe, which is code for “money.” The game could be worth tens of millions of dollars to the NBA and its TV partner, TNT, which is located in Atlanta, the site of the game on Sunday, March 7.
The NBA All-Star Game is for the fans — which is really code for the fans’ money — and yet no fans will be allowed to attend the now one-day event. The NBA plans to compress a reduced All-Star weekend schedule into the game, and its halftime.
Because the NBA is proceeding with an All-Star Game, Luka has won himself an extra trip to Atlanta, where he can play on the floor of the team that actually drafted him in 2018.
He should just be coming off the bench.
This story was originally published February 20, 2021 at 5:55 PM.
