Dallas Mavericks: Luka Doncic not getting any love from fellow rookies

The newest batch of NBA rookies have taken part in the “Rookie Survey” for the 10th time in the past 12 years. In this survey, the NBA rookies vote on such things as Rookie of the Year, who will have the best career, best playmaker and more. Dallas Mavericks rookie, Luka Doncic, was left off of some very intriguing lists.

Every once in a while, sports players get things really wrong. Often times, these players that are getting things way off base are younger players and it appears that will be the case once again. Now I may be a little bit biased seeing as I am a lifetime Dallas Mavericks fan, but the truth should be obvious: I was on the Luka Doncic bandwagon long before I believed the Mavs had any chance of getting him.

The kid is really something special. At 19 years old, he is already the most accomplished European player to come over to the NBA. His skillset is impressive and his understanding of the game is higher than a lot of players who have been in the league for a long time. He will learn to shine in the NBA.

The reason I bring this up is because the NBA rookies made one big mistake when they did their rookie survey via NBA.com. The question of “Which rookie will have the best career?” came back with some very unique results.

The results came back with Wendell Carter Jr. being the top vote-receiver at 13%. He did not run away with the victory, however, as Kevin Knox (10%), Jerome Robinson (10%), Deandre Ayton (7%), Mohamed Bamba (7%), Mikal Bridges (7%), Collin Sexton (7%) and Lonnie Walker IV (7%) all received multiple votes as well.

Then there are guys who received only one vote. Marvin Bagley III, Miles Bridges, Troy Brown Jr., Hamidou Diallo, Donte DiVincenzo, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Devonte’ Graham, Jaren Jackson Jr., Michael Porter Jr. and Trae Young all received a vote. There seems to be someone significant missing, wouldn’t you say?

The fact that Luka Doncic was mentioned towards the top of the conversation in the question “Who will be the 2018-19 Kia Rookie of the Year?” and then not even mentioned in this section is really confusing to me. How can people believe that he will be great for a year and then not get any better? He’s only 19.

If I were choosing the players off of who I think will be the best NBA player going forward, my top three would be Luka Doncic, Mohamed Bamba and Marvin Bagley III, in that order. I can see the case for plenty of other players like Deandre Ayton, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Miles Bridges as well.

This just goes to show you that, no matter what the Mavs do, there will always be someone that thinks they should’ve done things better. Only this time, the players are the ones that will be wrong about it all.