Mavericks guard Luka Doncic surpassed the 10,000-point mark for his career on Monday night, doing so in the fewest games of any NBA player since Michael Jordan, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN. Doncic reached the milestone in style, putting up an eye-popping 50 points, 15 assists, six rebounds, four steals, and three blocks in a victory over Phoenix.
“Always, when this kind [of] award comes with a win, it’s even more fun,” Doncic said. “It was a tough road game, and we won. So, outside of the 10K and 50 points, we won the game. So, I’m really happy.”
As MacMahon details, Doncic’s 358 games to score 10,000 points are tied with Bob McAdoo for the seventh-fewest in league history. The only players who reached five digits in career scoring faster were Jordan, Elgin Baylor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson, and George Gervin.
“I have never been on a team where someone is scoring the ball like this at such a high rate and also getting his teammates involved and making sure that everybody feels comfortable on the floor,” said Doncic’s teammate Derrick Jones, who is in his eighth NBA season. “It’s incredible. It’s amazing. I have never seen this before.”
Here’s more from around the Southwest:
- Following Monday’s win, the Mavericks are now 17-7 with rookie center Dereck Lively active and 1-5 when he doesn’t play. Head coach Jason Kidd said on Monday that the team had missed Lively during his recent injury absence, while Doncic admitted that he didn’t expect the rookie to play such an important role so soon, per Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com. “Obviously, I knew he was going to be great, but the way he’s performed since the first game has been amazing,” Doncic said. “I didn’t expect this impact of him. He’s been playing like he’s been in the league 10 years already. I’m really proud of this guy. He works on his game and he listens to me.”
- Spurs guard Devonte’ Graham has barely played at all this season, logging just 60 total minutes in six appearances. However, head coach Gregg Popovich praised the way Graham has handled being out of the rotation, referring to him as “one of the most respected guys on the team,” according to Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News, who takes a look at how the guard’s upbringing helped him deal with adversity.
- Former NBA guard Royal Ivey, a New York native, played his college ball for the Texas Longhorns, but was never on a Southwest team during his 10 seasons as an NBA player. Now back in Texas as an assistant coach with the Rockets, Ivey spoke to Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle about returning to the state he refers to as a “second home” and explained how he got into coaching after his playing days ended.
Royal Ivey has to be up there in best basketball names with World B. Free and Mookie Blaylock. Maybe Uwe Blab?
What will happen to Devonte Graham?
– 12.1 million contract this year
– $2,850,000 guaranteed next year
– on 7/1 the remaining 9.8 million becomes guaranteed.
He is 28 so doesn’t really fit the Spurs timeline. As he doesnt play he has no future there so should leave at some point.
I guess his contract has a negative value, as New Orleans added 4 2nd round picks to get rid of the contract and trade it for Richardson.
Spurs are in rebuild so shouldn’t attach any assets.
Graham is in a luxury position and would not accept a buy-out I think.
So the logical move would be to try and trade him now and otherwise waive him just before the guarantee date.
Maybe they get some value by taking on a worse contract.
Graham knows that if he gets waived, he might only get minimum salary this and next season.
He might accept to push back the guarantee date to the offseason (plan B: just after trade deadline) for some extra guaranteed money. This keeps the possibility intact that he will still earn those extra 9.8 million next season or a part of it plus a minimum contract. It also increases his chances for finding a good new team. If he doesnt extend he could (or not) earn the prorated minimum on a team though.
Extending until after trade deadline gives Spurs some time to find a trade destination. And as part of a trade they might negotiate a further push back of the guarantee date.
If a team can use him until the end of the season and then trade him (and guarantee whatever amount they need to do some salary-matching) that might be interesting and maybe he has a positive value in some trades then.