Mavs Notes: Doncic, Cuban, Wood, Green, Finney-Smith

Mavericks star Luka Doncic, who outdueled LeBron James in double overtime on Thursday night, is leading the NBA with 34.3 points per game this season and recently became the sixth-youngest player in league history to surpass the 8,000-point mark for his career.

With James on track to supplant Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer later this season, could Doncic be a candidate to eventually take that record from LeBron? When Tim MacMahon of ESPN approached him to discuss that possibility, Doncic shut down the conversation before it even started.

“If you’re saying me, there’s no way, because I’m not playing that much,” Doncic said.

As MacMahon notes, it’s the second time recently that Doncic has suggested he doesn’t necessarily envision himself spending enough time in the NBA to challenge for those sorts of career records. He said something similar when responding to a comment made by Dirk Nowitzki about the possibility of Luka matching Dirk’s record of 21 seasons with a single franchise.

“I don’t know about 20 years,” Doncic said. “That’s a long time to play basketball. I’d rather go back to my farm in Slovenia.”

Here’s more on the Mavs:

• Team owner Mark Cuban may be facing a fine from the NBA after complaining on Twitter about the whistle in Thursday night’s win over the Lakers. “Stan Van Gundy is absolutely right,” Cuban tweeted, referring to comments the analyst made on TNT’s broadcast. “Worst officiated game. Luka gets no respect. Unreal.”
• In a Q&A with Mark Medina of NBA.com, Mavericks big man Christian Wood spoke about his relationship with Doncic, the Mavs’ championship potential, how he dealt with coming off the bench to start the season, and his desire to make an All-Star team, among other topics.
• Mavericks wing Josh Green has been out since December 9 due to a sprained right elbow, but his return appears to be around the corner. On Wednesday, he went through a full practice and scrimmaged for the first time since the injury, per Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News and MacMahon (Twitter links).
• Green sounds closer to a return than forward Dorian Finney-Smith, who has been sidelined since December 19 with a right adductor strain. Finney-Smith is making progress and doing some on-court work, but hasn’t yet been cleared to practice, tweets Townsend.