Mavs’ Kyrie Irving: Luka Dončić Has ‘Confidence and the Cajones’ to Make Trick Shots

Timothy Rapp@@TRappaRTFeatured Columnist IVFebruary 27, 2024

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Luka Dončić has become famous for his various trick shots at practices and during warmups before NBA games, earning the praise and respect of teammates, opponents and coaches alike.

“When you’re having fun with the game and when you’re a kid and no one else is watching, and you’re playing with just with your friends or your family, (shooting) trick shots and half court shots, you know, it’s gonna translate into ultra talented and ultra gifted,” Kyrie Irving told The Athletic’s Tim Cato. “He has the confidence and the cajones to shoot it.”

“You can give him that title,” Irving added, crowing Dončić the NBA’s king of the trick shot over even Stephen Curry, who made the Golden State Warriors’ pregame warmups must-watch events with some of his ridiculous efforts.

But Dončić’s trick-shot résumé is hard to deny:

And that’s just a sampling. All in a day’s work for Dončić, who has arguably emerged as the MVP frontrunner this season while averaging an absurd 34.3 points, 9.5 assists and 8.8 rebounds per game.

“Luka has the ‘it’ factor, and people don’t understand how much having the ‘it’ factor means, because it’s not something you can practice or train,” Dallas player development coach God Shammgod told Cato regarding Dončić’s trick-shot mastery. “Your mind just has to be wired toward that.”