Chris Canty recently made a statement claiming that Luka Doncic is more like Kevin Durant than Dirk Nowitzki. To those who might not be aware, Canty is a former NFL star who also has a fair amount of knowledge regarding the NBA and its stars.
After the Boston Celtics ended up defeating Doncic and the Mavs within 5 games to win the 2024 NBA championship, Canty inadvertently took a shot at Luka Doncic and had to deal with quite a lot of scrutiny from the basketball community. However, there may have been more truth to his opinion than fans are willing to accept. That said, a closer look is required.
Dirk Nowitzki got the job done in the 2011 NBA Finals despite being the underdogs
Since Dirk Nowitzki is considered by many to be the greatest player in the history of the Dallas Mavericks franchise, he has been compared to Luka Doncic frequently. After all, both of them are from Europe and have established themselves as top-tier talent in the NBA.
However, it is important to keep in mind that Dirk Nowitzki went up against LeBron James and the Miami Heat in the 2011 NBA Final. Although the Heat took a 2-1 lead in the series, Dirk and his squad did not let go of their opportunity to win a title and won the series within 6 games. The comparisons between Luka and Dirk would have undoubtedly increased if Doncic had managed to do the same against the Boston Celtics.
Given that KD has two championships to his legacy and is widely regarded as one of the best pure scorers in the history of the NBA, many fans did not agree with Canty’s take and comparison.
Do Kevin Durant and Luka Doncic have a similar playstyle?
The fans who disagreed with Canty likely viewed the discussion more from the perspective of playstyle. After all, KD is very different when compared to Luka in their approach to the game. Luke is a significantly better rebounder and facilitator when compared to Durant and does not make as many jump shots consistently.
However, Canty was discussing the similarity in mentality between the two of them as opposed to the playstyle. After all, Durant may have been the best player on the Warriors when they won 2 titles consecutively. But he was never considered the leader and was unable to lead his previous team to a championship before finally deciding to join the Warriors.This distinction between being the best player and the leader is quite a subjective one. After all, being a leader has to do more with mentality and being vocal with teammates while the best player is more about performing the best on the team.
Given that the Mavs star was complaining a lot in the Finals series and did not really motivate his team, we can certainly understand why he is being compared to Durant at this point in time. Perhaps the narrative will change if Luka Doncic is able to lead the Dallas Mavericks to an NBA championship in the near future.