Dallas Mavs' Luka Doncic Poised to Reach New NBA Heights in Year 6

Luka Doncic has accomplished so much during his first five years with the Dallas Mavericks, but bigger and better things could be in store for Year 6.

As great as Luka Doncic has been throughout his first five seasons with the Dallas Mavericks, it's hard to think that he has an even higher ceiling to reach. At just 24 years old, though, Doncic has yet to reach his prime, and his best years are still ahead of him.

After missing the playoffs for the first time since Doncic's rookie season last year, the Dallas Mavericks made some major changes to their roster by bringing in Grant Williams, Dereck Lively II, Seth Curry, Dante Exum, Derrick Jones Jr. and others. The Mavs are in a much better place than they were seven months ago, and Doncic is excited about his new supporting cast.

"I think we got some great players," Doncic said. "I think Grant [Williams] is a great leader. He talks a lot, sometimes too much, but he's a great guy, and he's going to help us a lot."

In an exclusive interview with our Mavs Step Back Podcast, Williams emphasized the importance of giving Doncic as much help as possible this season. That way, once the second half of the season rolls around, the Mavs' young superstar will hopefully be more fresh for the final postseason push.

"Kai and Luka are gonna lead us along the way, but we've gotta have that support for them and don't ask them to do every single thing for us," Williams said. "Hopefully, Luka is gonna go for 60 on his own sometimes, but hopefully we don't need that every night. Hopefully we can do our jobs and really give him a chance of winning without him having to even have a great night of basketball."

No matter which Mavs player or coach you talk to, you'll get the same answer when asking about the team's biggest emphasis, and that's improving in the defense and rebounding categories. Dallas ranked dead-last in rebounding last season and 25th in overall defense, and Doncic knows his team must improve there in order to become a true contender in a stacked Western Conference.

Luka Doncic smiles as the Dallas Mavericks play at Real Madrid in a preseason match / Pedro Castillo

"Just play better defense," Doncic said. "One thing that we emphasize this year is rebounding. We're going to get better on our rebounding."

While the Mavs focus on improving on defense and rebounding, offense is something they won't have to worry about much while having two of the most talented stars in the league on that side of the court. Kyrie Irving and Doncic's partnership didn't translate to wins at the end of last season, but it wasn't due to their level of play. There were simply too many untimely injuries paired with a lack of depth, and Dallas was unable to overcome all of it.

Now, after the Mavs re-signed Irving to a three-year, $126 million contract over the summer, Doncic is ready to show the world what he and his co-star can do now that they've had a full offseason together and adequate depth surrounding them.

"[Kyrie] came in the middle of the season last year. We didn't have much time," Doncic said at the start of training camp. "We went straight to playing games. It takes time to build chemistry, especially on the court. We will have the whole training camp and then the preseason, too. I think it's going to be way better."

Due to a left calf strain, Doncic was limited to just five minutes in the Mavs' preseason game against Real Madrid last week, and he didn't play in the preseason finale against the Detroit Pistons at American Airlines Center on Friday night. The injury has eaten into some of that preseason time Doncic was hoping to spend continuing to build chemistry with Irving, but the duo should still thrive regardless.

"Just playing off each other," Doncic said. "We're the two leaders of the team. What we do, other people are going to follow, and we have to set an example, and that's everybody. It's not just us."

Doncic has numerous accolades on his resume already, including four All-Star appearances, four All-NBA First Team selections and a handful of signature playoff moments, including a trip to the Western Conference Finals in 2022. Although winning the NBA's MVP award would be considered a great next step for Doncic, he is focused one thing only, and that's winning a championship with the Mavs.

Doncic is poised to reach new heights this season, and that's a scary thought for a league that still hasn't figured out how to contain him.

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