In recent years, the NBA has transitioned to a league built by superstars. Rarely is there a team without at least two superstars that breaks through to win a championship.
Just look at the last few years. The Milwaukee Bucks had Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, and Jrue Holiday, the Los Angeles Lakers had LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Toronto Raptors had Kawhi Leonard, Kyle Lowry, and a young Pascal Siakam, and everyone knows who the Golden State Warriors had.
But there’s one team in the NBA who has a legitimate chance at winning a title in the next few seasons without multiple superstars, and that team is the Dallas Mavericks.
Can Luka Doncic lead the Mavericks to a title by himself?
Everyone knows who the leader of the Mavs is – Luka Doncic. Right now, he might just be the only superstar in the league capable of winning a title without a co-star.
Not only that, but he legitimately might be better off without one. Doncic could be the perfect example of a superstar who works best alone.
For the past few seasons, Doncic was paired with Kristaps Porzingis, but it didn’t work out as well as most people had hoped. But in games without Porzingis this season, the Mavericks are 17-10.
Since he was traded at the deadline, the Mavs are 4-2 and Doncic has been playing out of this world. He’s averaging 37.2 points, 11.2 rebounds, and 6.8 assists while shooting 45.6 percent from the field and 42.4 percent from deep over the course of six games.
And not only is he playing well, but he makes the guys around him better, too. The Mavericks added Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans at the deadline, both of whom were struggling mightily from deep with the Washington Wizards.
On the season Dinwiddie is shooting 31.8 percent from deep and Bertans is shooting 33.1 percent. But in their four games with Dallas, they are shooting 46.2 percent and 39.3 percent, respectively.
Throw in a solid secondary playmaker in Jalen Brunson, a versatile 3&D player in Dorian Finney-Smith, quality bigs, and some sparkplug shooters, and that’s all that Doncic needs.
So maybe Doncic doesn’t need a second superstar to play alongside him in order to lead the Mavs to a title. Maybe all he needs is quality role players.
And funnily enough, the last team to win a championship without multiple true stars was the Mavericks back in 2011 – led by a man by the name of Dirk Nowitzki.
Now it’s up to Doncic to follow in his footsteps and do the same.