(Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
The Dallas Mavericks hadn’t been to the NBA Finals in more than a decade.
Dirk Nowitzki was mostly on his own during his playing days, yet he managed to take the team to the biggest stage twice, cementing his legacy as one of the greatest to ever do it.
Now, it’s Luka Doncic’s time to do the same.
However, NBA analyst Alan Hahn is worried that Doncic might suffer from the “Dan Marino effect.”
Talking on ESPN Radio, Hahn claimed that there was a chance that Luka might not be able to get back to the NBA Finals if he didn’t get the job done this time.
“The Dan Marino effect.”@alanhahn is worried Luka could end up ring-less if he doesn’t close the deal this season pic.twitter.com/vy4VhwHols
— ESPN Radio (@ESPNRadio) June 5, 2024
He argued that Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets would be back, Anthony Edwards was only going to get better, and Victor Wembanyama is more than likely to take the league by storm at some point.
He also stated that the Boston Celtics didn’t have that looming threat in the Eastern Conference, so they shouldn’t find much trouble getting back to this stage multiple times in the foreseeable future.
Notably, people may have felt the same way about Nowitzki when he lost to the Miami Heat in his first NBA Finals.
He responded by having one of the most epic postseason runs in NBA history, and it’s not like there was any less talent in the Western Conference back then.
If anything, no player has a guarantee of getting back to the NBA Finals, regardless of his team and his conference, and the Celtics have way more pressure and more to lose than the Mavericks, as Luka is just 25 years old.
The post Analyst Has A Worrisome Projection About Luka Doncic appeared first on The Cold Wire.