The Dallas Mavericks' decision to trade up to acquire Luka Doncic in the 2018 NBA Draft has already had a major impact on the team and the NBA. In six seasons, he has been named to the All-NBA First Team five times, appeared in two conference finals and one NBA Finals. He's off to a historic start to his career, and some would argue he's already done enough to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
ESPN decided Nowitzki had done enough to be named one of the 25 best NBA players of the 21st century, ranking him at number 25. ESPN has been running a series of lists ranking the best overall athletes of the 2000s, and now they've broken it down by sport. This NBA list is a continuation of the overall athletes list, so there's still a big gap between Dirk Nowitzki and Kevin Garnett.
Read more: Warriors' Joe Lacob reveals talks with Klay Thompson before signing with Mavericks
While one could argue that Doncic should have been ranked higher based on awards alone, he is by far the youngest player on this list. The next player in age to Doncic is Nikola Jokic, who took the 2015 NBA Draft and is a three-time MVP and championship winner.
The eight players just above Doncic have been selected to the All-NBA more times than the six above him. All he's missing is a championship or MVP, but that's coming soon. Other players ahead of him include Ray Allen, Pau Gasol, Manu Ginobili and Draymond Green.
Here's what ESPN's Tim MacMahon had to say about Doncic's career so far: “After Doncic made the game-winning 3-pointer with seconds left in Game 2 of the 2024 Western Conference Finals, he yelled at Rudy Gobert: 'You can't guard me!' The four-time Defensive Player of the Year has plenty of comrades who've suffered the same misery. The 25-year-old Doncic is fresh off the most productive season in NBA history, averaging league-best 33.9 points, 9.8 assists and 9.2 rebounds, numbers that have never been matched before. And only Michael Jordan has a higher career playoff point average than Doncic's 30.9.”
Doncic is on pace to be one of the best players of all time if he overcomes the odds and wins a championship or MVP, and he should have won this season with his subpar averages, but the media was focused on Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander all season.
Read more: Warriors' Draymond Green 'very happy' with Klay Thompson signing with Mavericks
continue Mavericks Game Day For many Free Dallas Mavericks coverage Throughout the NBA offseason
Follow Mavericks Gameday twitter Austin Vesey twitter
