Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks are currently gearing up for their NBA Finals matchup vs the Boston Celtics, which is set to begin on Thursday evening. Doncic has been having an unbelievable postseason so far, absolutely eviscerating a Minnesota Timberwolves defense that was the best in the NBA this year in the last round and getting some great help from his Mavericks teammates en route to his first NBA Finals appearance.
There is a general consensus among sports fans heading into this series that the Mavericks have the best player of the two teams in Doncic, but that Boston probably has more talent overall. The best player on the Celtics of course is Jayson Tatum, and recently, sports media personality Stephen A. Smith took to First Take to make a controversial statement, as he has been known to do, that will have Mavericks fans riled up.
“I’m going to go with Jayson Tatum, believe it or not,” said Smith, when asked who has had the better career thus far between Doncic and Tatum (via First Take on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter. “Here’s a couple of things. Luka’s been in the league for six years. He’s missed the playoffs twice, and he’s been bounced out of the first round twice. So four of the six years, he either hasn’t made it past the first round or hasn’t made it to the first round at all… In Jayson Tatum’s seven years in the NBA, he’s only been bounced out of the first round one time. He’s been to five conference finals, and now his second NBA Finals appearance, and when you look at that kind of resume, that’s where I think he gets the edge.”
Who’s had the better career?
Smith’s version of answering the question seemed to be solely to point to team accomplishments rather than individual accomplishments, where Doncic has Tatum beat in virtually every category. Doncic has already amassed five (!) first team All NBA appearances in his six years to Tatum’s three, and also finished higher in the MVP vote than Tatum this year.
While he has undoubtedly played an immense role in the Celtics’ success over the last half decade plus, Tatum was drafted to a team that had made the conference finals the year before he got there and who had just upgraded that team by adding Kyrie Irving, along with an improved Jaylen Brown in what was the second year of his career. Doncic, meanwhile, was drafted (technically traded) to a Mavericks team that was in the midst of a total rebuild upon his arrival.
Of course, both Tatum and Doncic have had great careers and are consensus top ten players in the NBA today. However, individual career paths go far beyond solely team success, which is a point that Smith seemed to miss in his assertion.
In any case, Game 1 between the Mavericks and Celtics is set for Thursday at 8:30 PM ET from the TD Garden and will be carried by ABC.
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