Dallas Mavericks' Luka Doncic Passes Dirk Nowitzki with 5th Consecutive All-NBA First Team Selection
The NBA announced its All-NBA First, Second and Third Teams on Wednesday, and Luka Doncic made some Dallas Mavericks franchise history before he takes on the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.
For the fifth consecutive year, Doncic was selected as an All-NBA First Team player. With this achievement, he passes Mavs legend for the most All-NBA First Team selections in team history. In 21 seasons, Nowitzki had 12 All-NBA selections overall, but he only made it on the First Team list four times.
May 15, 2022; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) greets former player Dirk Nowitzki after beating the Phoenix Suns in game seven of the second round for the 2022 NBA playoffs at Footprint Center.
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
To further put into perspective how insane this accomplishment is, Doncic is only 25 years old and finishing up his sixth season. In 70 regular-season games, Doncic averaged 33.9 points, 9.2 rebounds and 9.8 assists, which was the first time a single-season stat line like that had been achieved in league history. He led the league in scoring this season and posted a 73-point game in late January, which is tied for the fourth-largest scoring game in league history.
Doncic is just now entering his prime years, and he's already got an impressive collection of NBA career achievements, including his five All-NBA First Team selections and several key playoff performances. Despite his outstanding numbers, Doncic finished third in MVP voting this season and only received four first-place votes.
"[Jokic] had a great run," Irving said of Nikola Jokic winning his third MVP award, "but I think if it's not this year, then Luka is on his way to win MVP sometime in the future, very soon. If you look at his numbers across the board, and you look how he was carrying our team, that it's nothing short of an MVP. He was coming off the World Cup, playing a lot of basketball for the last year and a half. I just look at all those contributing factors where he showcased that he was the MVP of this league."
Doncic is the only MVP finalist to make it to the conference finals, as the Mavs eliminated Oklahoma City Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and their WCF opponent, the T'Wolves, eliminated Denver Nuggets' Jokic.
