5x NBA Champion Rips Dallas Mavericks Star Luka Doncic

Five-time NBA Champion Michael Cooper spoke about Luka Doncic on his podcast.

Jun 17, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) reacts in the fourth quarter against the Boston Celtics during game five of the 2024 NBA Finals at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports / David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

Luka Doncic is easily one of the best ten players in the NBA.

However, he has gotten a lot of criticism for his defense over the previous few seasons.

Recently, Hall of Famer Michael Cooper made a bold statement about Doncic on his podcast (Showtime With Michael Cooper Lakers Podcast, h/t Ashish Mathur of HoopsWire).

He was playing a game of start, bench and cut.

Cooper chose to start Damian Lillard, bench Doncic and cut Kyrie Irving.

Cooper: "Luka gives you that triple-double almost any night, but he's too slow for me. If he wasn't a scorer, I would cut him... To me, he's lazy. Doesn't hustle back on defense."

While there is a case to be made that Cooper is not wrong, Doncic is such a gifted player that any deficiencies are easy to ignore.

He is coming off a year where he averaged 33.9 points, 9.2 rebounds, 9.8 assists and 1.4 steals per contest while shooting 48.7% from the field and 38.2% from the three-point range in 70 games.

Jun 17, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) watches his shot against the Boston Celtics during the third quarter in game five of the 2024 NBA Finals at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports / Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports

The Mavs were the fifth seed in the Western Conference with a 50-32 record.

They went on a miraculous run in the playoffs, and Doncic led the franchise to the NBA Finals for the first time since the 2011 season (they lost to the Boston Celtics in five games).

"It's incredible that he's [Luka] been there two out of the [last] three years... he's one of the best players in the world... he's got a team that he believes in."

Coach Kidd on Luka, DAL returning to the Western Conference Finals 💯#NBAPlayoffs presented by Google Pixel pic.twitter.com/KVO7JCQdB9

— NBA (@NBA) May 19, 2024

Heading into the 2024-25 NBA season, there is good reason to believe that Doncic could win his first MVP Award.

He is only 25 but has been to five straight NBA All-Star Games.