As the trend of comparing teams from different generations and predicting the victor continues, Shaquille O’Neal decided to follow the same when Dallas Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki appeared on his podcast, “The Big Podcast with Shaq.” The host shot the guest with a difficult question about who would come out as the winner in a match-up between prime Nowitzki and the franchise’s current star, Luka Doncic, for 100 million Deutsche Marks.
The German said, “Who’s got the ball first?… I got the ball first? I mean, I know for a fact that I would have a hard time guarding him. He’s got the whole package like I mentioned earlier, he can drive me both ways. He’s got the step-backs. But I do know in my prime he would have had problem guarding me as well. So that’s a matchup with a lot of buckets and not a lot of stops.”
Nowitzki stated that they both would have difficulties guarding each other, which speaks volumes about their offensive prowess. He did not mention any winner, but he praised Doncic for his exceptional talent.
The two had an opportunity to share the same stage in Mavs during the 7-footer’s last season. Back then, Doncic was a rookie and not the genius he has become now. However, Nowitzki could see his basketball IQ and predict that he would become the next superstar in the franchise.
The former forward is so impressed with the 25-year-old that he believes he would also succeed in Nowitzki’s era.
Dirk Nowitzki Believes Luka Doncic Would Succeed in His Era
During the podcast, Shaq also asked Nowitzki whether Doncic could have shown his supremacy in the German era, and he answered in the affirmative.
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“Yeah, honestly I think he could,” said the 45-year-old. Then Nowitzki went on to describe how the Slovenian guard’s physical attributes helped him to dominate the players shorter than him.
“Once he gets you on the shoulder, it’s over. He just drives you down. So yeah, it was a little more physical, but I think he would have adjusted to really any style,” he further added. “He can go both ways, he can post, I mean, he’s got a lot of stuff in his repertoire, so I really think he would have been just fine in our era.”
Doncic’s offensive prowess has carried the Mavericks remarkably. They reached the Finals to face the Boston Celtics. Though they couldn’t beat the Eastern team, the 5-time All-Star dropped a stellar performance.
Many believe that Doncic needs to bag the championship trophy to be considered in the elite group. For that, he needs to set the scores with the Celtics on Sunday and win four games in the series.
