Jaden McDaniels: Mavs' Luka Doncic Has 'Mastered' Basketball

Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels described Mavs superstar Luka Doncic's approach to basketball as having "mastered" it.

MINNEAPOLIS — Luka Doncic was ruled out for the Dallas Mavericks' road matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves on the second night of a back-to-back. Hours before that occurred, he was atop the list of players to gameplan for.

Jaden McDaniels, one of the NBA's elite on-ball defenders, had major praise for Doncic when discussing how to contain him at the Timberwolves' shootaround, describing the Slovenian superstar as having "mastered the game." 

"He lowkey has mastered the game," McDaniels said. "He already knows certain paths and things that will happen before they do. I just try to stay in front, contest, and do the best I can, really. He's going to pass it, do whatever he wants to do."

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Doncic has averaged 25.0 points, 7.3 rebounds, 7.3 assists, and 5.0 turnovers, shooting 45.0 percent from the floor and 26.0 percent from the perimeter in seven games against McDaniels. The matchup includes three games between 2021 and 2022, where Doncic scored under 20 points uncharacteristically. 

The Timberwolves hold a lot of respect for Doncic. Still, they are confident in handling the matchup since they have versatile defenders to prevent him from getting comfortable and make it challenging.

“I think we have a lot of versatile defenders to throw at him. We can throw Nickeil at him, we can throw Ant at him, we can put me on him, Jaden,” Timberwolves forward Kyle Anderson said before the Dec. 14 matchup. “Just not let him get comfortable with the same looks and just try to make it hard on him.”

Doncic has found his form against McDaniels in recent matchups, scoring an average of 36.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 9.5 assists in his last two games involving this matchup. Doncic's previous match against McDaniels involved him recording 39 points, six rebounds, and 13 assists, but he still turned it over eight times when the teams played on Dec. 14, resulting in a loss without Kyrie Irving in the lineup.