he probably doesnt have the ceiling that Lebron had, but dayum the kid is a beast. His performance this season and in the playoffs have been extraordinary in itself, then factor in his age... mind blowing. At the same age (21), aside for Magic, Lebron, Shaq, Durant, Duncan & Jordan, no other player has put up the stats & had such an impact. That's some all-time company. If Luka ever becomes close to a 40% 3pointer and 85% fter, like Lebron before him... Luka will be the best player in the NBA.
he's like harden. they don't have physical ability that stands out in a combine but also very big and strong for the speed that they do have. harden is quicker, luka is taller. luka doesn't even shoot that well (32% on 3's, 70 something on ft's) so it's not like people have to press up on him. but he can body people out of the way on drives if they back off, has a super slow eurostep if defenders get in the way, and then of course dallas having basically all offense/no defense role players makes the court perfectly spread for him.
someone made a great comparison for Luka that i liked, the poster said Luka reminded him of a mix between hedo turkoglu and james harden. Hedo was a very underrated clutch player for those orlando magic teams, and luka has the clutch gene and the deceleration of harden
Haha I was more of making the statistical case. He is slightly ahead of Lebron statistical at a similar age who is the best ever at that age. Luka is way ahead of Harden, Bird or Magic at a similar age. Even if you era adjust.
Unfortunately, Luka is way ahead of Harden. Harden wasn’t this good until like year 7. No one ever has been this good offensively at this age.
how old was harden in his debut for the rockets when he had 37/12/6/4 againist the pistons. i think he might have been 23 years of age also harden didnt have the usage back then of luka, who knows what harden could have done if he had a high usage in 2013, remmeber he shared the backcourt duties with lin and sometimes parsons. luka has the ball all the time. but overall i agree with you
There are definitely conflating factors. I'm just impressed with Luka, never thought I'd see something like this.
Luka is more skilled than Lebron but Lebron is a physical freak. If I were Luka, I would ask Harden what his workout regimen is because whatever Harden has done has made him one of the most durable and strongest NBA players in the game without being a genetic freak like Lebron and Giannis.
He will have the ultimate authority and maybe legitimize the league. Perhaps his humility will have a competitive impact with fairly called games going forward?
