Luka Doncic becomes youngest player with 30-20-10 game
Luka Doncic had a splendid day at the office on Aug. 4.
The Slovenian superstar’s latest triple-double (34 points, career-high 20 rebounds, and 12 assists) ignited the Dallas Mavericks in a 114-110 overtime triumph over the Sacramento Kings at Walt Disney World.
Before the NBA season was suspended on March 11, Doncic was No. 1 in the league in triple-doubles.
In a hard-earned victory in which he played 43 minutes and swatted two shots, Luka Doncic notched his 16th triple-double.
Who’s next on the list?
The Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James and the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic both have 13 triple-doubles.
Luka Doncic makes history
With his aforementioned effort against the Kings, Doncic became the league’s youngest player to ever have 30 or more points, 20 or more rebounds, and 10 or more assists in the same game. In doing so, he was 21 years and 158 days old.
On Dec. 6, 1961, Cincinnati Royals great Oscar Robertson accomplished the feat at 23 years, 12 days.
It was the type of performance that underscored what Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said on July 27 about Doncic’s role on the team.
“He’s become the leader of the team on the floor,” Carlisle told reporters.
A determined effort
Looking back on the victory, Luka Doncic said his team played hard. He also said he’s making improvements on defense.
“Since we’ve been here I’ve been working on my defense, just getting better,” Doncic told reporters. “It wasn’t our best game – far from that.
“We fought, we hung in there, we helped each other, we never gave up. We needed that win and you can never count us out for sure.”
Mavericks guard Tim Hardwaway Jr. said Doncic set the tone for the team.
“When your star player is doing that out there on the floor and leading by example,” Hardaway said, “it shows a lot and it makes the guys around him play just as hard.”
Revisiting the 2018 NBA Draft
Before the 2018 NBA Draft, Court Side Newspaper advocated for Luka Doncic to be the No. 1 overall pick.
Instead, the Atlanta Hawks made him the No. 3 pick and traded him to Dallas for the No. 5 pick, Trae Young.