Luka Doncic has been turning the entire world upside down this season. The Dallas Mavericks star is on fire right now on the NBA court as he manages to break record after record. Recently, Luka became the first Mavs player to score the most points in a single night, taking over from Dirk Nowitzki. Against the New York Knicks on December 27th, Doncic put up 60 points, together with 21 rebounds and 10 assists.
The way he has taken the league by storm this year has led the NBA world to compare his abilities with those of the league’s greatest players. To be specific, fans wonder how Luka’s numbers from the 2022-23 NBA season compare with Michael Jordan’s in his 5th year.
Does Luka Doncic average more points than Michael Jordan in his fifth year?
The great Michael Jordan joined the league in 1984. Just like Luka, he was a superstar from day 1 as well. His Airness managed to make heads turn after winning the Rookie of The Year award. If that wasn’t enough, MJ managed to earn an appearance at the All-Star game in his rookie year too!
Claiming that he carried that form into the following seasons would be an understatement. Jordan made sure to perform better on the court day after day. By the time he was in his fifth year in the league(1988-89 NBA season), Jordan was already a superstar, like Luka in the present day.
MJ averaged 32.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 8.0 assists in 81 games played. Although we’re used to hearing about how great he was, his stats are still surprising to NBA fans. It would be safe for us to claim that Luka might be on to achieve great things in his career.
So far this season, after 33 games, Luka has averaged 33.7 points, 8.9 assists, and 8.8 rebounds. The fact that he puts up higher numbers than one of the GOATs is a fact that we should not ignore. However, at the same time, it would be interesting to see if Luka can keep this form up as well. It is known across the league that the Mavs may depend on the Slovenian too much at times. When he plays almost every game, the risk of injury increases as well.
Last year, Doncic put up 28.4 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 8.7 assists on average. His numbers indicate that he is improving faster and better than ever as well. However, the NBA world must be sure to not put too much talent on such a prodigal talent. If all goes right in Luka’s career, he will lead an NBA franchise to multiple championships and make many records his own.
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