Nowitzki: “I had a lot of doubts about Doncic when he came, I didn’t expect him to be this good”

The revelation that he himself doubted whether the Luka Doncic could dominate the NBA, until he saw him in person, did o Dirk Nowitzki. The Slovenian joined the Mavericks at the tail end of the German Dallas legend’s career and it didn’t take him long to win him over with his skills.

“At the end of my career we weren’t good, we were struggling a lot and we wanted a spark to change things. To be honest I didn’t think it could be Doncic. When he came to training he looked like… tiny and I was like ‘I don’t know if this is going to work’. I was wondering if he is fast enough or athletic enough and we had a lot of doubts within the team. In the first training sessions we tried to test him, foul him, put him in difficult situations to see if he can respond. But he showed from the beginning who he is. You could tell from the first moment that this kid knows how to play, he made some incredible passes, some goal-fouls and showed his talent. We all saw that he would become a really good player, but we didn’t expect him to reach the level he is now“, he said.

Now their relationship has gone to another level. “I’m more of a friend to him than a mentor. “Mentor” is heavy talk. Whenever I’m in Dallas we go out to eat. He doesn’t need advice from me, he’s already playing like a 32-year-old and he doesn’t need anyone. He’s been a pro since he was… 11, his progress is incredible and I’m happy for him“, emphasized Nowitzki, who led the “Mavs” to their only championship in 2011 and hopes that Doncic will also follow in his footsteps.

Dirk was skeptical about Luka at first.

But after spending more time with him, he saw the @dallasmavsvision.

Watch the latest episode of All The Smoke with @swish41 on our YouTube.#MFFL pic.twitter.com/OU3ALiqB9v

— SHOWTIME Basketball (@shobasketball) December 4, 2023