Celtics legends shockingly praise Luka Doncic amid Finals

Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic's success in the NBA hasn't gone without notice whether if it's from fans, current players, and former players.

In his sixth NBA season, Doncic has carried the Mavs on his back to their first NBA Finals berth since 2011.

With his success, people have compared Doncic to Dirk Nowitzki as the "greatest Maverick ever." Even former players who didn't play for the Mavericks recognize Doncic's game and always seem to give him his flowers.

Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett shockingly praise Luka Doncic amid Finals

On the latest episode of "Ticket & The Truth" on Tuesday before Game 1 of the Finals, two former Celtic legends and hall of famers gave Doncic high praise. Doncic deserves all the praise in the world for what he's doing in these playoffs, but two Celtics legends praising him while their former team is playing against him in the NBA Finals may surprise some people.

"[Luka Doncic] hit the league in his prime," said Paul Pierce.

It's understandable for Pierce to say that about Doncic. Before playing in the NBA in the 2018-19 season, Doncic's play was great in the EuroLeague. In his final year in Europe, Doncic won the league's MVP and won the EuroLeague championship in 2018.

Obviously, Doncic's success in EuroLeague helped him prepare for the NBA. Doncic started his NBA career winning Rookie of the Year in 2019. Since 2019, Doncic has had five All-Star Game appearances and five All-NBAs. This season, Doncic finished third in MVP voting, but some people thought he was robbed of winning the award. Kevin Garnett, the other Celtic legend and hall of famer, said Doncic is the only one who can break an NBA record which some can find unbreakable.

"Luka is set up to be the only one to catch [LeBron James]," Garnett said. "Don't nobody wanna say that (expletive)."

For Garnett to say Doncic could be the only player to break the NBA all-time scoring record held by James is bold. However, Garnett can have an argument.

At 25 years old, Doncic has averaged over 32 points per game over the past two seasons. Doncic also won his first scoring title this season. In his six NBA seasons, Doncic has averaged over 21 points per game in every season. Doncic has averaged 28.7 points per game in his entire career. However, the scoring title still is hard to break.

Currently, James has 40,474 points all-time; Doncic has 11,470 points. It's undetermined how much longer James will play in the NBA as he will turn 40 in December. If James was to retire, how many points could Doncic need?

Doncic trails James by 29,004 points. If James were to retire before next season, Doncic would need to average 1,993.6 points per season over the next 15 seasons to pass James. Playing 15 more seasons could be unlikely for Doncic and James retiring could seem unlikely. But, if a hall of famer is giving Doncic high praise, it's something to keep an eye on.

Unfortunately for Doncic's Mavs, they lost Game 3 of the NBA Finals to the Celtics at home 106-99. The Mavs trail 3-0 in the series. Game 4 of the Finals will be tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. CT.