Dallas Basketball

Ex-NBA Player Kenyon Martin: 'Luka Doncic Isn't Best Player on Dallas Mavs'

Former NBA player Kenyon Martin joined the Gil's Arena show and had a hot take about who the Dallas Mavericks' best player is, and spoiler alert ... his pick wasn't Luka Doncic.

Dalton Trigg

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Former NBA player Kenyon Martin had his fair share of on-court battles with the Dallas Mavericks during the Dirk Nowitzki era, and now, he might be trying to stir up drama for them off the court.

Martin recently joined fellow former NBA player Gilbert Arenas on his "Gil's Arena" show and gave his take on who the Mavs' best player is, and he didn't pick Luka Doncic.

“In my opinion, I don't think [Luka Doncic is] the best player on this basketball team,” Martin said. “If you give Kyrie the ball first [in a one-on-one game], Luka won’t touch the ball. Luka can’t guard this god***n camera stand.”

Kyrie Irving was just two rebounds shy of notching a triple-double in the Dallas Mavericks' final preseason game against the Detroit Pistons.
Kyrie Irving was just two rebounds shy of notching a triple-double in the Dallas Mavericks' final preseason game against the Detroit Pistons / Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

This particular topic might fall into the "who cares?" filing folder, as Kyrie Irving recently said when talking about ESPN's NBA player rankings that had him outside the top 30. Objectively, Doncic is the better player right now given his size paired with the fact that he's been named to the All-NBA First Team four times in five seasons at the age of 24, but none of that really matters since both stars are on the same roster with the same overall goal of winning a championship for the Mavs.

"We’re both killers on the court. Everybody knows it," Irving said when asked about his partnership with Doncic. "We want to win, so we just have to continue to have that consistent mentality together and lead the team as best we can alongside other guys that have experience in this league – or young guys that we have to coach, even more so. ... My approach this year is to focus on being prepared and healthy and peaking at the right time."

Martin and others can try to stir the pot all they want, but the Mavs are laser focused on playing as a team and not only finding a way to get back to the playoffs, but becoming a title contender in the process. There are no selfish "who is better in a one-on-one situation" agendas in Dallas.

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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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