National Basketball Association

Is Luka Dončić era in Dallas paralleling Dirk Nowitzki era?

Updated May. 4, 2022 3:07 p.m. ET

Over the last few decades, the Dallas Mavericks have been home to two of the best European players to ever play in the NBA — with just one NBA Finals trophy to show for it.

After being drafted in 1998 by the Mavs, it took 13 seasons for Dirk Nowitzki to bring a title to Dallas (2011). And that dominance was quite short-lived, as Dallas wouldn't win another NBA playoff series for more than 10 years — just last week, Luka Dončić and Dallas sent the Utah Jazz packing in the first round.

And with that win, the comparisons between the two are starting to ramp up.

In his fourth NBA season, Dončić clearly runs the show in Dallas much like Nowitzki did in his heyday, but it might not be enough to get the Mavs another ring.

As Dallas finally makes another playoff run with a franchise star in the driver's seat, is the team headed for a déjà-vu letdown?

Colin Cowherd believes so.

"The gap between Jalen Brunson, Spencer Dinwiddie and Luka is the Grand Canyon," said Cowherd.

Cowherd: Luka Dončić's Mavs need to find him a No. 2

Hear why Colin Cowherd believes the Mavericks find themselves in the same situation with their current superstar that they did with their last superstar.

Dončić averaged 28.4 points, 9.1 rebounds and 8.7 assists per game during the regular season. His No. 2 option is either Brunson — who put up 16.3 points, 4.8 assists, and 3.9 rebounds per game — or Dinwiddie — who notched 15.8 points, 3.9 assists and 3.1 rebounds a night.

Dallas also consistently struggled to find a Robin to Nowitzki's Batman throughout his 21 seasons.

In Nowitzki's lone championship season, he averaged 23.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game during the regular season. Statistically, the second-best player on that team was Jason Terry, who came off the bench averaging 15.8 points and 4.1 assists per game.

Kevin Wildes from "First Things First" believes Dallas' success depends solely on Luka's mindset. Is he more intrigued by being the hero and scoring as much as he can, or is he trying to get his teammates more involved as he did during the regular season?

"Does he want to score points? Or does he want to make sure that Jalen Brunson is in rhythm?" said Wildes. "I don't know if he views it as part of his job to make sure everybody else is eating."

So far, Dončić has scored more in the playoffs (33.0 PPG vs. 28.4 PPG during the season), and his assist number has gone down (6.3 APG in the playoffs vs. 8.7 during the regular season), which seems to support Wilde's skepticism.

With that, Chris Broussard pointed out that the Phoenix Suns' game plan against the Mavericks in their playoff series could be more simple than anyone imagined: Let Luka score.

"The Suns' game plan was to guard Luka straight up, have no one else be involved and win easily," Broussard said. "That's exactly what happened."

Despite only having one first-round playoff win to his name, Dončić is officially closer to a title than ever before, meaning Nowitzki's one ring is at least in sight.

Now, Dončić and Dallas just have to eye the teammate(s) that can help them get there.