Mavs Ex, Texas Legends’ Justin Jackson on Luka Doncic: ‘100 Percent MVP Frontrunner’

DallasBasketball.com caught up with Texas Legends forward Justin Jackson at the G League Winter Showcase to get his thoughts on his former Dallas Mavericks teammate Luka Doncic’s MVP campaign.

Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic is having a fantastic start to the 2023-24 season, averaging 32.7 points, 8.4 rebounds and 9.1 assists while shooting a career-high 37.6 percent from 3-point range through 27 games. His play has elevated Dallas to a 16-10 record despite the team dealing with several key injuries.

Last week, Mavs veteran forward Markieff Morris said he wondered “why [Luka isn’t] No. 1 in the running for MVP.” During the G League Winter Showcase in Orlando this week, we caught up with former Mavs and current Texas Legends forward Justin Jackson, who also gave his take on Doncic’s MVP campaign.

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“He's one of the best in the whole entire NBA and the whole world,” Jackson told DallasBasketball.com. “He makes everything easier for everybody else, and he's just getting better and better. He's super young, so the sky’s the limit for him.”

When asked about Doncic being the MVP frontrunner at this point in the season, Jackson responded, “100 percent … I think he’s a great guy. He’s young, so he's basically like a big kid, but at the same time, he's a great guy, which obviously is a great combination for a superstar.

“He makes everyone around him better on and off the court, so I mean, I think the Mavs got a good one.”

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Jackson knows firsthand what it’s like to play alongside Doncic, as he played 94 games in Dallas from 2019-20 before finding his way to the Milwaukee Bucks and winning an NBA championship during the 2020-21 season.

Now, Jackson is putting up big numbers for the Legends in Frisco, Texas, just a stone’s throw away from the Mavs as their G League affiliate, averaging 20.6 points and 5.8 rebounds while shooting 49.8 percent overall and 44.1 percent from deep.