Dallas Basketball

Luka Doncic Better Than LeBron James Was at Age 23, Says Tim Hardaway Sr.

Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic grew up admiring LeBron James and even molded some of his game after the four-time NBA champion. Tim Hardaway Sr. believes Doncic is currently on a higher trajectory than James was at this point in his career.

Dalton Trigg

When it comes to Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic, nothing really surprises us anymore. He is capable of dissecting any defensive scheme thrown at him, and the only thing that seems to be able to slow him down even a little bit is fatigue from having to do it all for the Mavs.

Doncic grew up admiring Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James, and he's even admitted that he's molded some of his game after him. In an interview with Sports Lens, former Maverick and newly-minted NBA Hall-of-Famer Tim Hardaway Jr. spoke about how Doncic is currently out-performing James when comparing the two stars' first four years and change in the league.

“I will take Luka at 23 (years old),” said Hardaway when asked if he thought Doncic or James was the better player at that age. “What he’s doing now, his jump shot. But we have to remember, Luka has been playing professional basketball since he was the age of 16. He’s been playing professional basketball. He’s been playing against grown men. LeBron just started playing against grown men at 18. Then he had to figure it out. That took him about 3 years.

“I will stay right now, looking back, 23 and 23. What Luka is doing? Yeah, I think that he’s doing it better than what LeBron was doing.”

It’s a glowing endorsement from Hardaway, who played in an area that many believe was tougher than today’s NBA. As tough as Doncic is, though, there could be long-term consequences for the Mavs if they can’t get him a true second star on the roster at some point. But as of right now, like James did, he’s not having many issues carrying his current load.

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Dalton Trigg
DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.

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