Building a dream Luka Doncic lineup with 1 HOF, 1 All-Star, 2 role players

Despite missing out on the Play-In Tournament this past year, the Dallas Mavericks are in a better position than the majority of teams around the NBA, and it’s all because of one player.

Luka Doncic.

The 24-year-old phenom has been nothing short of dominant all throughout his five-year career thus far, being named to four All-Star teams and four All-NBA First Teams.

At every turn, the Slovenian superstar has proven that he’s one of the best players in the world, and it’s up to the Mavericks to surround him with the necessary talent to bring the organization a championship.

They’ve done a solid job of that this summer, re-signing Kyrie Irving and bringing in multiple key rotations pieces, but what if Dallas could build a fantasy team?

Building the Dallas Mavericks a dream Luka Doncic lineup with 1 Hall-of-Famer, 1 All-Star, and 2 role players

Enjoy Basketball, a newsletter and brand founded by YouTube sensation KOT4Q, has been tweeting out fun hypotheticals all summer, posing one common question - what would a dream team look like around a particular superstar?

I ran the exercise with Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic for Nugg Love, creating an elite starting five around him while following a set of stipulations. They are as follows:

You get one Hall-of-Famer, one current NBA All-Star*, and two role players.

And, obviously, Doncic would be running the show alongside them.

Given those guidelines, what is the best-possible lineup the Mavericks could put around Doncic? Who would you choose to pair with the Dallas star?

Let’s take a look at the lineup I came up with, as well as the reasoning behind each decision. (Spoiler alert: We’re running Doncic at the point guard position.)

*For the “All-Star” portion of this decision, Hall-of-Famers cannot be selected. Guys like LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Giannis Antetokounmpo cannot be selected as All-Stars, as they would be Hall-of-Famers if they were to retire today.

**For role players, the requirement is that the player has either A, never been an All-Star, or B, isn’t currently playing at an All-Star level. For example, Richard Jefferson would qualify, as he was never an All-Star, but guys like Jalen Brunson and Desmond Bane wouldn’t, as they are playing at an All-Star level and are likely to make an All-Star Game in the near future.