Former Dallas Mavericks play-caller Rick Carlisle has high expectations for Luka Doncic next season.
The Dallas Mavericks finished last season with a whimper instead of a bang, but there's still reason to believe in the general philosophy behind a Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving-led team. The Mavs wisely navigated the NBA Draft and free agency to add defenders to a lineup that should have no trouble ranking near the top of the league in points scored.
Doncic will sharpen his game with Slovenia in the FIBA World Cup before, ideally, coming to Mavs training camp in the best shape of his career. The 24-year-old has very quickly emerged as one of the league's true superstars — a one-man offensive ecosystem who can shred defenders in isolation or set the table for teammates.
Now the bar is being set higher than ever ahead of the new season, with his former head coach offering a strong endorsement and a bold prediction.
Rick Carlisle predicts Dallas Mavericks' Luka Doncic will win MVP next season
Speaking to Grant Afseth of Sports Illustrated at Myles Turner's basketball camp, Pacers head coach (and former Dallas head man) Rick Carlisle offered up glowing praise of his protege and placed a firm bet on Doncic's MVP candidacy.
"I'm sure he's doing all the right things for him. He's been on the cusp of being the best player in the world. He's right there, and I think he's going to be the MVP this year."
He wouldn't be the first person to predict Doncic for MVP. The Mavs' point guard was the preseason betting favorite to win the award in 2022-23, but Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic got in the way. Now that Embiid and Jokic have seemingly ended their three-year MVP feud on relatively even ground, perhaps it is time for a new most valuable player to emerge. Doncic is certainly capable of putting up the numbers.
Doncic's candidacy would have been much more prominent last season if it weren't for the Mavs' team-wide struggles. Doncic can't be entirely absolved of Dallas' poor finish in the standings, but it's clear the front office simply didn't build a good enough roster around him. There's also reason to doubt Jason Kidd's judgement in the head coach's chair, but that's another argument for another day.
Luka averaged 32.4 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 8.0 assists on 60.9 TS%, which is positively absurd. The James Harden comparisons have always felt half-baked, but Doncic is probably the closest we'll get to Harden's heliocentric dominance from the perimeter. He's the NBA's most potent isolation scorer, blessed with a knack for changing speeds and effortless touch from anywhere on the floor. Doncic is strong enough to finish through contact at the rim and he has the world's deepest bag of tricks, with the possible exception of his backcourt running mate. There isn't a guard in the NBA more adept at manipulating the defense to his will.
If Dallas can rebound from last season's 11th-place finish and move toward the top of the Western Conference standings, it's hard to imagine Doncic not being in the MVP race. He will face stiff competition from the usual crew — can we ever count out Jokic, Embiid, and Antetokounmpo at this point? — but the voters could be looking for a fresh face after three years of the same three-man race. Doncic is jockeying with Jayson Tatum to be next in line.