How much success would Luka have to see in his career to be included in the conversation with MJ and Lebron? He’s already been named to first-team NBA 5 times (out of 6 years), led the league in scoring, won Western Conference MVP and now has a chance to win his first NBA title.
Is he there yet? Of course not, but don’t say there’s nothing he can do in his career to get put into that conversation. He’s only 25.
Yes, I am a biased Dallas fan, but you have to acknowledge Luka’s greatness!
Don't get ahead of yourself. He's not even in the conversation for best player in the league until he wins a championship. If he loses to Boston, Jokic is still the undisputed King. He needs at least 3 championships before you can mention him in the GOAT conversation.
Well he has 0 titles right now. If he pulls this off and bests the Celtics who took the unicorn from Dallas (Porzingis), it would be epic and he could legitimately be called the best player in the league for now. The Olympics are also this summer. Leading Slovenia to a surprise gold if he loses the nba finals would perhaps be a bigger accomplishment and I'd assume he'd prefer to do that. Until he does either though, he's just a great player.
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Don't get ahead of yourself. He's not even in the conversation for best player in the league until he wins a championship. If he loses to Boston, Jokic is still the undisputed King. He needs at least 3 championships before you can mention him in the GOAT conversation.
Not even in the conversation? He’s pretty much universally considered a top 2-3 player, and a lot of people are “conversing” in the media and basketball forums whether he’s the best. I personally think he is, but I also like watching his game a lot more than that of Jokic.
Don't get ahead of yourself. He's not even in the conversation for best player in the league until he wins a championship. If he loses to Boston, Jokic is still the undisputed King. He needs at least 3 championships before you can mention him in the GOAT conversation.
Not even in the conversation? He’s pretty much universally considered a top 2-3 player, and a lot of people are “conversing” in the media and basketball forums whether he’s the best. I personally think he is, but I also like watching his game a lot more than that of Jokic.
No, he really isn't.
Also, you must have a really high tolerance for whining if you like watching his game so much.
Not even in the conversation? He’s pretty much universally considered a top 2-3 player, and a lot of people are “conversing” in the media and basketball forums whether he’s the best. I personally think he is, but I also like watching his game a lot more than that of Jokic.
Sure, he can be in the conversation for top 3, but under no circumstances can you put him over a three-time MVP and NBA champ until he has at least one championship himself.
There can be — as with Luka’s own game — hardly any defense for such a claim.
Wonderful offensive player, needs at least 3-4 titles , and not have to be switched off of every player he originally tries to guard. I watched him on Harden a few weeks ago, it was laughable Harden who is very deceptive but not fast or even quick anymore, scored four times in a row, they had to call a Time Out it was that bad.
LOL yes we are most concerned with dunking ability when evaluation the GOAT
Of course not. The problem is, if you are a player who never/rarely dunks, you just don't register in the mind the same way as an all-around freak (like Jordan or Kobe) who has both the D and the dunks and the rings and the stats, etc.
My point is that when people think of the GOAT, we tend to think of slightly different things... I was just asking what your criteria are. You can't really down-vote a question.
What matters to you? See the above list and let me know...
Don't get ahead of yourself. He's not even in the conversation for best player in the league until he wins a championship. If he loses to Boston, Jokic is still the undisputed King. He needs at least 3 championships before you can mention him in the GOAT conversation.
You guys have a very short term memory. Neither one of these guys is the greatest of all time. Good grief.
Man, after some naysayers arrived, I thought OP would leap to Luka’s defense, especially since his teammates are fatigued from all those times coming off-ball to cover for him.
Even the thought of GOAT at this point is ridiculous. We need to see at least 4 rings and 10-15 years of consecutive GOAT-like play just like the ones that came before him.
The way his weight is trending, I would be surprised if he’s even in the league in 6-7 years. He’s young with the body of a 30-year old already. I believe are seeing peak Luka right now unless he starts making drastic changes.
Oh, and he is not winning a ring this year by the way. And I hate the Celtics as much as anybody, but the Mavericks don’t have what it takes.
Man, after some naysayers arrived, I thought OP would leap to Luka’s defense, especially since his teammates are fatigued from all those times coming off-ball to cover for him.
For the record I’m not one of those Mavericks fans who worships Luka. I was mostly just curious to see how people would respond to the hypothetical question I posed. Calm down Luka haters, it’s hypothetical!
As we all know, the current GOAT debate is between Lebron and Jordan (not Jokic, though he’s legit). However, at a certain point everyone has to have their own answer to the question no matter how unrealistic you think it may be. Simply what would have to take place?
Also in terms of criteria, I think it’s a combination of a lot of things. But one metric that shouldn’t be included is personality. I don’t care if some someone is a “crybaby” or an egotistical douchebag when it comes to discussing how good a player is. Also people need to grow up and quit bringing up the refs when it comes to how good/bad a player is.