Patrick Beverley responds to this edit of Luka Doncic absolutely cooking his Clippers in his very first Playoff Series “Toughest person i ever had to guard. Sheesh”
Absolutely crazy that Luka was doing this in his 2nd year
In hindsight, this kinda ruined the first half of his career cause he was so good so early, that the Mavs couldn’t acquire players through the draft, like the Thunder did.
Edit: why are people talking as if Luka is worse now lol. 2023-24 Luka was significantly better than this version of Luka. He just had an injury ridden, traded mid season down year last season, and he still had the best individual game of the season.
Wemby already got a number 2 overall pick and number 4 overall pick ROY.
SGA got JDub, number 2 overall Chet, and Cason Wallace all in the lottery.
Josh Green was the only first round pick drafted during Luka’s rookie contract. Mavs got so lucky with Lively in 2024.
People always talk about Luka being “hard to build around” but the real issue is he just said fuck it and took the team to the playoffs before it was even really built.
I feel Brunson should be mentioned somewhere in this.
Yeah but wasn’t he like a late 2nd rounder or something
Early. He was 33rd overall in the same class as Luka
You are right yeah, but still, hitting an all-star or better player from even like the 20th pick onwards is like super difficult
2nd round is about a 2.5% chance
He also plays the same position as Luka which makes him a worse as a support piece compared to the guys SGA and Wemby have
Even Brunson though did not break out until his last season of his contract and then just left
“just left” aka cuban didnt think he was worth 20m annually
Refusing to extend JB at 4⁄55 during the summer before the WCF season was one of incompetent NICO’S first managerial decisions as a Mav. He preferred over-paying for THJ … and then spent years trying to get off Hardaway’s contract.
Why did he choose THJ over JB? Because Timmy had had a good playoff series against the Clips that spring, and JB had had a bad one. Nico didn’t know shit about the players on the Mavs’ roster before making this ill fated decision. It was amateur hour.
In hindsight. No one cared at the time (Mavs fans or NBA reddit) - he had just got played off the court in the playoffs by the Clippers. I also doubt he ever reaches his potential since he plays the same as Luka, most likely he gets traded if he was under contract and he still broke out vs Utah that year. Or they keep him as sixth man role he was playing that Year.
They might have gotten away with trading just Brunson + 1 other asset for Kyrie instead of the 1st + 2 2nds + DFS.
I’ve always said there’s no reason to be good immediately. Wemby also got a number 8 pick they traded and the spurs still have capital.
We were also bad for a while before wemby so we had some young lottery guys as supporting pieces, and we had picks from the dejounte and poetl trades to build with. Mavs were only bad for two years before Luka with only DSJ to show for it, and they didn’t really have anyone too valuable left from their Dirk-era core to trade away and kick off their rebuild.
Just kinda different situations, and always a balancing act of how many high picks you wanna accumulate vs. how long you wanna let the tank go on before making more of a push.
Yeah they definitely didn’t think Luka would be good enough that fast. I didn’t hate the idea of trading for a 2nd star like KP while he was on a rookie deal too bad it didn’t work out.
This type of context gets so lost. LeBron and Luka had the same issue.
They also were poorly run franchise. Went all in on an injury prone Porzingis, they coulda waited those years since the team wasn’t good enough to contend even with Zingis.
Then let Brunson walk for free who turns into a top 10 player in the league
They had all the leverage, still gave him max before he even played a game. Realized they fucked up, their solution? Overpay Dwight Powell.
Yea I don’t get it you have Luka why go all in on Zingis right away? Coulda just waited 2 season and quickly realized how good Luka was and find a better fit with more assets saved up
I’ve always said there’s no reason to be good immediately.
That’s a weird thing to always say
They should’ve ran Luka at PF for half a season as an “experiment”.
Idk if this is trying to reference Sochan running PG or Wemby running PF but either way its kind of a dumb comparison
brother i’m shitposting
Mb
At least josh green was somewhat playable. Lebron got Luke Jackson lol
Luka just like young Bron definitely made his team good too quick, but fucking up with Brunson and KP didn’t help. They also got Kyrie for peanuts.
In Shai’s case I’ll give you Chet, but other than him there are no guys drafted above 10 on OKC’s roster. Dallas also literally traded Cason Wallace who you mentioned.
I mean but Dallas literally only had 2 dudes to pick in the first. You talking about “above 10” im also saying only 2 first round picks TOTAL.
The KP trade is the main reason for that of course. Just unfortunate that he will never be healthy. Even now, he’s provided almost no value in the playoffs for Boston despite clearly being a very good player and fit there.
Dallas completely lucked into Kyrie’s value being so low for sure though. A reminder that in 2023 they walked into the season Christian Wood (now out of the league) as the guy to be Luka’s second option. And Spencer Dinwiddie minimum contract as the third. That Kyrie trade saved everything (only for it to be ruined)
Trae has had the same fate— his lottery teammates have been Hunter, Reddish, Okongwu. JC and Kev outplayed their draft spots but had low ceilings. We didnt even draft that bad but the timing of our picks within the classes following Trae’s rookie year just weren’t that strong, which is a common thread among all the ‘18 stars
Wasn’t Hunter 4th overall?
Yes, but if you look at the draft, there’s not anyone picked after him that would have been a better pick, which is why I’m saying we got unlucky with the talent level in the drafts we tanked. There’s barely all-star talent in that entire draft and we had two lottery picks in ‘19
Ahh okay, didn’t quite catch that from your comment. Agreed that the 2019 draft was especially weak.
He was only missed the playoffs twice. His rookie year and the year before they went to the finals
And that second time was injuries and the gutting of the front line. Dwight Powell being your back line of defense and rebounding? Good luck. People blamed Kyrie at the time, but they were a poorly balanced team after that trade.
Not only that, but it hindered his MVP cases because he didn’t have that “ascension” voters usually like to see
Yup. People probably already have voters fatigue with Luka even though he never won anything.
They do have voter fatigue, if we look at last year SGA was voted #2 and Luka was on #3 which seems unreal to me, he arguably could’ve won and it wouldn’t feel wrong, but to be 3rd?
The pre-second stint Cavs LeBron problem
So.. The first Cavs stint LeBron problem?
Lmfao
Such a bill simmons way to say this lol
Top 7 Cavs problems
Easily a top 14 Cavs problem in the last 3 half decades
One of the GOAT arguments for me is that LeBron wouldn’t have let his team finish below .500 in his age 23 season like Jordan did which gave them the 8th pick which they used to trade up for Scottie pippen.
The problem with this, is look at the east during Lebrons early years vs. the east in the 80s. Just not even similar in terms of the differences in the level of competition.
Or even the west in 2018-2019 when Luka was battling prime Kawhi in first round, not really comparable to the teams Lebron faced in the East during his time
Well that’s a pretty bad argument because the Bulls got the 8th pick by fleecing the Knicks.
Scottie was molded by playing Jordan everyday in practice.
when i think stuff like this, and about warriors getting a high pick that year they sucked (wasted, but still), and dallas getting number one pick this year… i think for the lottery picks it needs to take the past three seasons into account not just the current one.
There’s a balance. You don’t want to reward mediocrity too much.
The inept and dysfunctional teams that perpetually make bad decisions in talent evaluation and development shouldn’t be rewarded with all the brightest gems.
They would just fuck it up anyway and future faces of the league would develop terrible habits/outlooks.
The LeBron effect. Dragging that 07 team to the finals etc.
This is right on point, also because he was so good at an early age the expectations he had for the coming seasons were way higher than normal, thus lots of ppl downplay his greatness.
This and KP trade. They bet everything on KP and when that didn’t work it set them back for years.
Yeah should have tanked with a 22 year old that can get you into the CF. Mavs are the weirdos, not the Thunder.
Imagine the product NBA if everybody did it.
Didnt they draft Brunson
Brunson was actually in the second round of the same draft as Luka (and the Mavs lost him for nothing in free agency, right as he was breaking out, either way).
In fairness Brunson and Luka isn’t a great pairing. They both work better without the other and they’d be a defensive tragedy as well
Didnt they say that about his pairing with kyrie?
Nico did, but he traded away the wrong player.
Brunson was a 2nd round pick that needed to develop.
Mavs fault tbh, they traded for KP and immediately tried to compete rather than taking their time and building something sustainable. They never attempted to tank with Luka which I get and in someway it worked because they at least got to the Finals but I do wonder what would have happened had they went with a full rebuild.
Eerily similar to a certain teammate of his…
Yeah, that series he put up 31.0 PPG, 9.8 RPG, 8.7 APG and 1.2 SPG on 50% from the field. Absolutely nuts for a 2nd year going up against guys like Kawhi, PG and Pat Bev, plus Zubac in the paint.
Worth noting that Kawhi cooked back just as hard - 32.8 PPG, 10.2 RPG, 5.2 APG and 2.3 SPG on 54% from the field. But doesn’t take away from what Luka did, they were both incredible.
I hope Luka can get back to moving like this, last season he was a shell of the guy in these highlights, physically. He’s only 26, it’s not crazy to think he could get back to somewhere close to this level of athleticism/fitness, hopefully he does. A healthy, skinny Luka who’s moving well is a joy to watch.
I’m sad that the Lakers are probably going to get the best version of Luka. It was so fun watching him cook.
Imagine if he wasn’t fat.
He’s been playing professionally so long that this was his physical prime despite being 20 years old
Have you seen him now?
he was so skinny
Yeah first year I heard about the hype and wasn’t really pay attention. Then I watched like a half a quarter of this round and immediately know he’s the best offensive wing/guard I have ever seen
Got LeBron’d
Technically speaking you are obviously right… but this was Luka’s fourth or fifth year of playing professionally.
There are countless instances of players telling the story of their “welcome to the NBA moment”… when they realized that NBA is something altogether different from college basketball. At that point Luka had already been going up against several NBA caliber players every day in practice and also in actual games in Spanish ACB and Euroleague.
Not really man. While NBA equivalent talent was playing 5’7 high schoolers (shoutout Zion mixtape) he was playing pros in Europe. He’s an incredible player but he was well seasoned coming into the NBA.
This was genuinely one of the most toxic series ever
The dog whistling Luka stans were WILD
All because Morris Harrell said “trash ass white boy” to him
See I never get it. Is this not supposed to be a problem? It was right before they protested and pushing back games too.
It is a problem, just to not over half of this sub.
Yes it was a problem but the reaction by the sub was actually unbelievable. You could tell most of them were not actual regulars and they just used the whole incident to demonize harrel and paint the entire nba’s end racism messaging as hyprocritical. Over an elementary school level trash talk in THE NBA.
All of the “what if luka called him the n word????” comments were so funny as if that and “white boy” are remotely comparable lmao
It was Montrezl Harrell. Morris stepped on Luka’s shoe and they broke it down like it was the Zapruder film to make it seem intentional and not…stepping on a shoe.
Ohh boy lol you summoned em
This also birthed Paul George’s goated nickname Pandemic P after all their shit talking lol
It was so fun
And that 2022 WCSF doubled down on the toxicity
Pre-calf injuries Luka was the best guard we’ve seen in the league since Curry and I’d argue the best player out the gate we’ve seen since KD. He was doing all this only in his 2nd year against a former DPOY finalist, finished 4th in MVP voting, and had the 6th man of the year raging at him. Early Luka was just built completely different at such a young age.
He gave Paul George depression
Luka helped create Podcast P
He neutered booker.
fatty luka in 2024 is better than this luka
yeah his 3 ball was not good before
Harden is a known playoff choker that would play well one game then go 3-14 in a game 7
He’s comparable in his prime regular season wise but not playoffs to Luka
Don’t forget about harden though. He averaged 36/8/7 in 2019 and replicated it in the playoffs
Calf injury? Does he have some type of permanent calf injury?
Y’all still gonna try to downplay calf injuries after everything that happened this year?
He injured his calf in preseason this year, and then re-injured it in December. He also had calf issues in 2024 that he played through.
A big reason he got traded is his team wanted to let his calf issues completely heal with complete rest but Nico wanted him to start playing through it.
At the same time were labeling Mavs Luka “pre calf injury Luka” like he has no chance to get back to that level lol. Injuries do play a part in performance but give him a chance to get back lmfao
And muscle (calf) and tendon (Achilles) strengthening is a real thing, whereas if he had ligament tears those are never coming back with the same upside, even given intense rehab and rebuild. Sometimes this is evident in the reality of cadaver transplants for acls.
He’s had calf strains and problems since 2022 that sidelined him in the playoffs
It’s why he get got fat
He’s so quick in this video.
LBJ had 25/6/9 in his first NBA game straight out of HS.
And didn’t play professional ball against adults since he was in middle school… People here are forgetting this. He wasn’t built different, he just had been doing this since he was 13 and had 5 years of pro experience when he came in the league.
In 20 years, I’ll probably end up being one of the old heads going on about Luka’s GOAT trajectory and how he was on pace for it. Now injuries, what looks like bad work ethic, kind of derailed that. But he was absolutely incredible with not even that bad of a defense. His game might be more polished due to experience like a better shooter and stuff, but he also lost some parts of his game
Gen z Grant Hill
Injuries derailed it? This is the only season he’s missed significant time, minor injuries happen to everyone
Early KD had better rosters than Luka, their numbers are pretty similar
Luka did this in his second year pretty absurd
As a 20 y/o, contention for the MVP race, averaging like I would guess 30/7/7 against this great Clippers team, and then this game, it was unreal
He was even better in his 3rd year, their 2nd go at the Clippers. Had the Mavs role players hit just 33% of their 3s, the game would be theirs. I think all but 2 players (Luka and I think DFS) went 1⁄18 from 3 in game 7. Just hitting 5 more 3s to reach 33% would have put them in a position to win the game, but it just wasn’t meant to be.
morris also went like 7⁄11 from 3 if remember correctly in game 7
Even better. He was 7⁄9 from 3.
Luka and DFS combined for 9⁄18 from 3 while the rest of the Mavericks went 1⁄18.
The Clippers shot 46% from 3, they hit 20 of 43, so it was essentially just a massive 3pt shooting difference. Clippers overperformed and Mavericks underperformed from distance.
It’s a shame, because Luka had a 46/7/14 stat line in game 7. Would have been historic had the Mavs hit their 3s and the Clippers missed a few.
It’s funny how the year Luka didn’t go crazy vs the clippers (due to the injury) was the year he finally beat them in the playoffs
Dude he averaged 31/10/9 😭
Luka doncic did it in a cave with a box of scraps
absurd
Just for reference isnt Wemby in his second year now?
Yeah he finished his second year
His natural rhythm and pace really does just lull you into a lower gear and he’s so good at creating shot and passing angles that he doesn’t need a ton of space to be effective. Luka has one of the more interesting skill sets in NBA history. Its very much as if Larry Bird was a guard not to make the lazy comp but they both have a slow deliberateness you don’t really see in elite scorers
Not only that, it’s impossible to throw off his rhythm and pace, which is rare, most players aren’t capable of maintaining it in the face of elite defenders night in and night out. That makes Luka even harder to guard.
His stop and go is GOAT level
Gilbert Arenas mentioned this at one point - said so many NBA guys are so athletic that if you can get them to commit to a direction, they’re basically out of the play, and Doncic is a master of doing that while staying in control.
Larry Bird was a guard not to make the lazy comp but they both have a slow deliberateness you don’t really see in elite scorers
People will make fun of the comp because they are both white but yeah they are super similar as players. They are tricky ball handlers at their size and have otherwordly court vision who play mostly off feel like a musician. Really all great players play off feel, I guess, but they really do play a similar game.
The best pass I’ve ever seen comes from Luka (degree of difficulty on this is absolutely insane) against the Pacers which reminded me of Bird. They don’t teach those passes at basketball camp, that’s art.
Luka’s performance in this series helped me convert my friend’s little brother into an NBA fan lmao. He was fucking unreal. That stepback game winner is a core memory.
Slim Luka back next season. 2026 MVP
Subscribe.
Also subscribing to that content channel
It’s kinda wild that people are still making fat jokes and he legit looks slimmer than he did when he was younger and he looks like he’s finally healthy. Luka looks like he’s gearing up for his revenge tour this upcoming season and I’m ready to watch him kill it
anulo mufa
Luka is the only player I’ve ever seen suffer from voter fatigue (re: MVP) despite not actually winning the award yet. He single-handedly made the Mavericks so good, so early that they were unable to tank and surround him with young talent. (Brunson does not count in this regard since they were drafted together.) I hope he shuts a lot of people up next year. I still maintain that he has top 10-15 all-time potential. He is that good.
I mean just look who was on the court with him in these videos. Boban, Seth Curry, Michael Kidd-Gilchrest are in a large number of these highlights. The dude was and still is absolutely insane.
I don’t know what he’s like nowadays, but I feel like Seth Curry was a quality NBA player for awhile there. Your point still stands though, the guy didn’t exactly have the best supporting casts in the world until that Finals team last year.
yea seth was good when he was on the Mavs excluding the third time around
Sucks he got traded for josh Richardson who did nothing for the Mavs. Seth was on a super cheap contract at the time too
Another “fuck Nico” moment
But Josh’s defense! Defense wins championships! Maybe Josh was better with Philly but on the Mavs he wasn’t a 2 way player or even a 1 way player, dude was a 0 way player on a crap contract
I see no controversial takes here
That is to say, I think you’re spot on
Luka is the only guy who had to face prime healthy kawhi in b2b seasons. Kawhi unloaded everything on luka just to get hurt every round 2 lol. But lukas 2020 and 2021 playoffs vs clippers are why his first few seasons were the best start to someone’s career since duncan.
With THJ as his second leading scorer lol
Just insane what playiff luka did his first few postseasons
Bubble Trey Burke was on a heater.
Man I’m excited to see him next season without the calf bothering him.
Hope I am wrong but that to me seemed a little chronic, maybe not entirely but looks like it will be an issue for the future. He has been having strains for a while, now maybe the weight was a problem but who knows
Weight, lack of rest, training in gym to compensate.
Don’t think he’s ever had a break to completely heal until this off-season. His camp tried after reinjuring it last year but Nico and his new training staff tried to rush him back and the resistance contributed to the trade. This is first off-season he wasn’t playing international ball I think.
They traded this guy for an older Anthony Davis straight up
Is this where he shouted “too fucking small”?
That was the second series I think lol
Like the very first play
All-demon team
I think we can all agree Luka was in way better shape back then, but it’s crazy how people are calling him washed after the shit show that was this past season like he didn’t go nuclear just the year before
Absolutely nuts.
Blame dumbass Nico. This reactionary ass sub will be right back on his dick next season though guranteed
god, i love luka
I’ll watch the highlights of the game where he made the game winner every now and then.
I remember watching that game and losing my mind.
NGL, bubble basketball on all day was fun to watch, you know, outside of the chaos going on in the world at the time.
I was going nuts at the time like holy shit is this guy going to be the GOAT? But then it died with the weight issue, injuries and stuff. I don’t know the guy personally but I feel like if he had half the work ethic of Bron he would still be in contention
Absolutely cooking the league from the get go you love to see it. Only a few players are elite by their 1st or second season. How Luka does not have an MVP award already is beyond me
The fact that Luka was able to bring these Clippers team to six games, then the following year he challenged them to seven games, then in 2024 he finally beat the Clippers. What an insane run.
That Mavs team was so well constructed for Luka. They had great energetic defensive minded centers, 3 & D guys on the permitter and Kyrie. They absolutely had a great shot this year had Nico not fucked it up.
Absolutely a finals roster who then replaced Josh Green, THJ and DJJ with Klay, Grimes and Naji. Which fixed our biggest issues of defense and 3pt shooting.
Despite all our injuries/illness pre trade we were still neck and neck with the other lower seeded playoff teams.
A series against OKC would’ve been electric. It was one of my most wanted rematches in the West. 🥲
Also only team with winning record vs OKC this year I think
Again, Fuck Nico Harrison. Robbed us from an amazing rivalry
I miss the old luka
He still plays like this he’s just slow
straight from the go luka
This clip being from the bubble with no audio is wild. 5 years ago. Just listening to the video, you’d think this was an exhibition game or similar
Jeff Teague told the story relaying that that gentleman is cold.
He is a true offensive savant. Even with being overweight, he was still putting a lot of effort on offense. People bring up the Boston series, but Kyrie’s terrible series or the team missing so many wide open jump shots is not brought up. Luka was not blameless on offense, but it was stupid of Nico and Dumont to look at that series and feel that Luka was the biggest issue when he was one of the few Mavs players who did show up.
At the same time, as a Mavs fan, while I will forever hate the trade, I also kept waiting for Luka to change to be more in shape, to play off the ball more willingly, to focus more on getting back and stay involved on defense, to stop constantly complaining to the refs,..etc. It never happened with the Mavs.
Whatever his faults, I wish he was still on the Mavs. I see Flagg’s game similar to that of Wiggins, with a pitbull mentality that Wiggins does not have. If that assessment does pan out, that is definitely a heckuva player, but motivation or even great talent by itself will not make you an offensive savant or a generational player. Those generational types are far and few in between. Luka at 25 was already that. We lost a proven generational star at 25, coming off a Finals run, in the middle of the night for pretty much pennies on the dollar.
He uses deceleration so effectively, one of the best of the past couple years at it. Also, I know that most NBA players jump shot is just a flick of the wrist, but his just looks so nonchalant from 28ft. Really crazy stuff. Can’t wait to see him on a mission this year.
Best shape Luka was ever in. Unstoppable force going to the rim. Actually used speed then, making his deceleration that much more deadly.
The thought of getting to see this version of Luka again after seeing him prioritize his body and conditioning since the season ended is getting me so excited.
He’s so slow but so unguardable
Lol, funny clip. How does a guy that slow be so good?
Constant movement, next step is a mystery
Always keeps his dribble alive, until he doesn’t, and by then you’re cooked
If you have shooters around you, getting into the paint is easier
Can score from anywhere
Because Luka is so fast at stopping on a dime and accelerating while using his huge frame to constantly body you
Mavericks did a salary dump on this guy in his peak.
bubble doncic was just different man.
I just want to say that Luka has been a Laker hero before even becoming a Laker. Ripping the heart out of the Clippers and the Suns in the playoffs? He was made for L.A.
Slim Luka built different
Don’t see much of guarding here but if he insists it’s ok
So glad my team drafted Marvin Bagley instead…
One thing I noticed and loved about young Luka was his ability and confidence in finishing and going in with his left. He came into the league pretty polished, but by his second season his shot creation REALLY took off because he was able to left, drive hard, play off whatever the defence gave him, and finish left.
And he did it all so confidently, so strongly, zero hesitation. Scary to see a young player so good so quickly.
Pretty egregious blocking foul at 1:48 lol
LOL…boy got cooked so bad he tried to contest Luka’s shot through telekinesis at 0:17
Luka, the white MJ in terms of scoring.
As many times Pat lifts his hands up for Luka to just glide by… Looks like his defense had a soft spot for Luka in reality.
Jeez look at how he’s moving and jumping haven’t seen that ina while
Miss you Don 💙
Zero help D in this entire clip tho
1:01 to 1:05 defender loses the bucket like anthony edwards loses his kids
What’s funny is Luka doesn’t seem exceptionally fast or quick for a point guard, but then you remember he’s basically Charles Barkley height and weight and Barkley and guys his size don’t usually move like this guy
Who else has this kind of soul snatching ability?
I don’t think even Steph gets to Luka’s level of demoralization in the 1st quarter. What he did to the Suns and Wolves is still hard to comprehend for me.
Luka is the Clippers killer
2-1
Pbev was absolutely putrid for the clippers. This guy got so much air time for how trash he was
Pbev was absolutely putrid for the clippers
Uh, no he definitely wasn’t lol
Dallas traded that way. Now he’s all thin and seemingly hungry. Something seems amiss.
The 2021 one was even more painful for him. He was benched after Mavs went up 2-0 away. Kawhi went god mode just to beat the Mavs in 7. Then, Kawhi got hurt the next series
God my old king. So fun to watch.
Aint no one gonna tell by the bubble basketball wasn’t tough.
High praise
Seeing all this really just hurts my soul. I hate the Dallas Mavericks post-2024.
Skinny Luka was different
Luka cooked the Clippers so hard that his team lost two seasons in a row
I hate being THAT guy, be the speed at which he could change directions at this weight vs now is just too blatant to ignore
To me as a one on one defender Pat wasn’t really lockdown like that