Dallas Mavericks: Dirk Nowitzki, Luka Doncic and the passing of the torch

Accessibility

One thing I would like to see more of from Luka Doncic is time in front of the cameras and around the people of Dallas a little bit more. Dirk was really good at keeping to himself because that was his personality. It was never weird for him to shy away from the spotlight as can be clearly seen by his choice to not announce his retirement with hats and t-shirts that say something silly like “D. Nowitzki World Tour”.

Luka is not like that. Although he puts on a bit of a quiet persona for press conferences and locker room questions with the press, he is a very outgoing person who enjoys having a good time and generally has a big smile on his face. If he embraces that side of his personality with the people of Dallas during some events that he may not be expected to go to, it would go a long way.

Again, this is not to say Dirk did anything wrong while he was here. There is very little that man has ever done wrong as far as I’m concerned. But, with as much as the world has changed from Dirk’s draft to Luka’s, a different approach can be a welcome thing.

Theatrics

This is something similar to the previous point, but I want to see Luka Doncic do some advertisements. There is no doubt that the European guys have never really been the players advertisers were looking for in big ad campaigns, but there has also never been a European player that has jumped into the spotlight quite like Luka has.

Dirk was never going to be a guy to waste his time pushing a product for a few extra bucks. His focus was on basketball and basketball alone. However, there are plenty of really good players that find time to advertise and I don’t think that affects the way they play on the court at all. If Luka wanted to do some ads, it wouldn’t hurt his game.

The reason I would like to have him advertising is because the Mavericks have always been the team with no players in the spotlight and it would be a nice change to get some highlights on some of the major sports network. Luka is on his way to becoming a superstar and the public is going to notice. It wouldn’t be the worst thing if he just embraced it a little.

The torch has officially been passed to a 20-year old from Slovenia and there may not be a better player out there to receive said torch. Luka is set to start his training for the 2019-20 season and the whole league better watch out.