May 24, 2024, 8:00 AM ET
Luka Doncic and Anthony Edwards compete to advance to play for their first NBA title this year. What would a championship mean to the legacy of these young superstars?
Even before the series started a few days ago, the 2024 NBA conference finals They had already made history.
For the first time, no current or former MVP winner (the award was first introduced before the 1955-56 season) made it among the NBA’s final four, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
The Mavericks haven’t won an NBA title since 2011, but Luka Doncic is having a great moment as he looks to lead them back to the NBA Finals. Jesse Johnson/USA TODAY Sports
Welcome to the Next Generation Conference Finals, which presents a great opportunity for some young stars looking to take the next step in their careers, including Anthony Edwards y Luka Doncic.
The 22-year-old superstar guard of the The Minnesota Timberwolves could be on the fast track to becoming the next face of the NBA and is already drawing comparisons to Michael Jordan. His counterpart of the Dallas Mavericks The 25-year-old is accumulating records at an accelerated rate and is the driving force of one of the most exciting teams in the league.
How would an NBA title affect the trajectories and narratives surrounding their young careers? ESPN’s NBA Insiders examine what a Finals victory would mean for each team’s superstar.
No one within the Mavericks organization batted an eyelid in late January when coach Jason Kidd declared that Doncicone month away from turning 25, was already the best player in the history of the franchise.
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“He’s better than Dirk,” Kidd said in a matter-of-fact tone during an appearance on the Mavs’ radio station, meaning no disrespect to his 2010-11 championship teammate.
Dirk Nowitzki, whose statue greets fans in the plaza outside the American Airlines Center, is, of course, the most successful player to ever wear a Mavericks uniform. He is the only player in franchise history to win the NBA MVP and NBA Finals MVP and holds a wide variety of team records, most notably his 31,560 career points. The hope, even the anticipation, is that Doncic surpass all the feats of the one he was a teammate in his rookie season.
Most importantly, winning an NBA title for Dallas is just seven wins away heading into the Game 2 between Dallas and Minnesota on Friday night.
But there is no reasonable debate about whether Doncic is more talented than Nowitzki, who has been saying it since Doncic He was his teammate as a teenager. Doncicwho had an unprecedented stat line of 33.9 points (NBA-leading 9.2 rebounds and 9.8 assists per game this season en route to his fifth consecutive All-NBA First Team selection), dominates games like few others have.
“It’s in the atmosphere of MJ, the greatest of all time, LeBron, Kobe,” Kidd continued during that radio appearance.
That daring statement from the coach Doncic It is premature as a proclamation. But it is not a crazy prediction.
You will certainly find skeptics who say that Doncic will never lead Dallas to a title, much less the multiples needed to join the exclusive company of Michael Jordan, LeBron James y Kobe Bryant. Some executives, scouts, coaches and rival players will be happy to express their doubts, as long as they are granted anonymity, because no one wants to draw the attention of the ruthlessly competitive Doncic.
You’ll hear that a team can’t win a title with a superstar who doesn’t defend. It may be true, but it does not apply to Doncic. The Mavs were the NBA’s top-ranked defense over the final 20 games of the regular season, a trend that has carried over into the playoffs. Dallas’ scheme on that side of the court protects Doncic as much as possible, but his individual defensive metrics are actually very good this season.
You will hear that a team cannot win a title with such a heliocentric system. This theory probably wouldn’t still be in circulation if James Harden’s Houston Rockets had made just a few of those 27 consecutive three-pointers they missed in Game 7 of the 2018 Western Conference finals. However, Doncic and Kyrie Irving have thrived as the league’s highest-scoring duo, developing harmonious chemistry on and off the court.
“We all know his numbers and stuff like that, but I want to be a teammate and a brother by his side that helps him grow as a man and helps him accomplish the things he wants to accomplish,” Irving said Saturday after the game at the that the Mavs eliminated the Oklahoma City Thunder. “And I know he feels the same way.”
Doncic is at a point in his journey as a superstar without a ring (his EuroLeague title with Real Madrid and EuroBasket championship with Slovenia are not considered in these types of conversations) where a championship parade is required to break perceptions .
So was Giannis Antetokounmpo, who didn’t have enough skill to lead a team to a title until he ended the Milwaukee Bucks’ 2021 championship run with a 50-point performance.
So was Nikola Jokic, who was the analytics poster boy who ruined the NBA discourse until he had 10 triple-doubles during the Denver Nuggets’ playoff run to last season’s title.
Nowitzki, the predecessor of Doncic as the face of the Mavs franchise, he serves as a sensational example of how ridiculous legacy nonsense can be in the NBA. Many perceived him as the epitome of the soft European stereotype in his prime, a delicate player who was not cut out for the tough grind of the playoffs. Never mind that he was one of four players in NBA history at the time with postseason averages of 25 points and 10 rebounds. Nowitzki didn’t suddenly develop championship-caliber toughness at age 32, but he had the right pieces around him and got the lucky breaks needed to ultimately win the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
The Mavs firmly believe that day will come for Doncic. Maybe even before he reaches his prime.
— Tim MacMahon
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Edwards: Comparisons to Michael Jordan ‘have to stop’
Anthony Edwards pulls back the curtain on how he approaches the game and what separates him from the pack to be the next Michael Jordan.
Kevin Garnett is the best player in Timberwolves history. In fact, KG and Kirby Puckett might be the best-known figures in Minnesota aside from the legendary Prince and Bob Dylan.
But if Edwards can win the Wolves’ first title in their history (since 1989-90), he would not only rise to a greater height than Garnett in Minnesota, but could cement a path toward potentially becoming the face of the NBA.
In just his fourth season, he is already in the Western finals. With his exciting playing style, his magnetic personality and his insatiable thirst to win, the youngster is often compared to Michael Jordan could be about to achieve an unusual air.
“Honestly, this is like a stepping stone for him,” Wolves point guard Mike Conley said of his standout performance. Edwards in the playoffs. “Just being able to experience this at such a young age. A lot of times, you lose Game 7 [contra Denver en la segunda ronda] and then you think about it all summer and you come back another year to overcome it and advance to the Western Conference Finals, you build on it.”
The scary thing is that Edwards He is not at his best and is already being labeled “indefensible.” He has improved in each of his four seasons since he was selected first overall in the 2020 draft, improving his scoring, shooting and playmaking skills.
“When you defend him one-on-one and he’s able to operate in space, to me he’s proven to be undefendable,” Denver coach Michael Malone said in the final round. “He can shoot threes with great efficiency. He can go downhill and dunk it over the entire opposing team. He can stop, fool a center, fake a shot on a step and mid-range and draw fouls.”
That doesn’t include the defensive ability of Edwards (he can suffocate guards like Jamal Murray on the perimeter and rise for spectacular blocks) or his leadership.
“It’s amazing for him, 22 years old, to be in a Western Conference final,” Wolves center Rudy Gobert said. “I don’t know how many of those he’ll have… I try to tell him that you have to make the most of that moment. You’re Anthony Edwardsyou are in your fourth year in the league, you are very mature and you can help a team win a championship right now… He wants more, he wants to be a champion and he is working to achieve it.
Timberwolves superstar Anthony Edwards has led the franchise to its first conference finals appearance since 2004. C. Morgan Engel/Getty Images
“…He’s become more mature in almost every game we’ve played. The maturity and growth he’s shown carries over to our team, and I can’t wait to see him continue to grow.”
Edwards It’s not the complete package…yet. But what he adds now is invaluable playoff experience, including the knowledge of what it takes to eliminate a defending champion.
“I think he’s really enjoying the cerebral parts of the game right now,” Minnesota coach Chris Finch said. “Being demanding of your teammates, your leadership, all those things that were there and were growing, but have gone to another level. They are omnipresent right now.”
Despite everything that is said that Edwards plays like the ’80s version of Jordan, consider that Jordan didn’t win his first ring until he was 28 years old.
“It’s a great moment for him, a great opportunity,” Conley said. “He has to understand that. Our gift is that we have a lot of guys who don’t really realize the moment, how special it is. It allows us to come in with a hungry mentality.
“That will be beneficial for him and his legacy in the future.”
— Ohm Youngmisuk
2024-05-24 12:00:00
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