Luka Dončić made his preseason debut on Friday night and the start of his fifth NBA season looked a lot like the first four.
Dominant, determined, a little bit magical and smiling through it all.
Beyond that, the superstar point guard gave us a couple clues of how he hopes to be even better this season.
Dončić scored or assisted on 16 of the Mavericks’ first 19 points and mixed in a couple of lob passes for easy buckets by big men Christian Wood and JaVale McGee. He went behind the back with passes. He wrapped around defenders to find Maxi Kleber for a wide-open bucket.
And, of course, he threw in a couple 3-pointers from somewhere out on Dirk Nowitzki Way.
“He was the MVP tonight,” coach Jason Kidd said. “He looked great. Going the full quarter there in the first, being able to control the game and get to the basket, shoot the three. I thought he did great on both ends of the floor.”
When he was done, which was by the end of the first half, Dončić had played his usual number of minutes for a half and finished with 16 points, five assists and three rebounds. He hit 6-of-8 shots, including 3-of-5 from 3-point land in just a shade under 18 minutes.
Dončić, along with Tim Hardaway Jr. and Kleber, had sat out the preseason opener against Oklahoma City on Wednesday.
They all played against the Magic and, by and large, played well, even though the Mavericks wasted a great first quarter and eventually dropped a 110-105 decision to the Orlando Magic. It dropped the Mavericks to 1-1 in the preseason.
One of the topics pregame was about how the Mavericks now quantify Luka’s improvement. The numbers are not going to change much. He’s averaged between 27.7 and 28.8 points each of the last three seasons. His assists and rebounds are always reliable.
But what’s the key to continue getting better for the 23-year-old Slovenian?
“The short answer is trust in your teammates,” Kidd said. “Uplifting your teammates, putting them in a position to be successful. The stats – points, rebounds, assists – they’re going to get those. But how can they help others have a better season? That’s the short answer: how can you make your teammates better?
“But winning, you’re always measured on winning. And the best are measured with that gold trophy.”
That would be the championship trophy.
While fans have come to expect the same elite level from Luka on a nightly basis, his teammates have seen the ways that their leader has improved beyond simply the gaudy numbers.
“I feel like he gets easier shots,” said Dorian Finney-Smith. He always gets easy shots for everybody else. But for himself, he posted up a lot more last year. And also, J-Kidd does a good job of making it easier for him.
“All he can do is pay attention to details, how teams are guarding him. They’re pushing him right. So he’ll figure that out. You can’t show superstars the same look the whole game. They’ll figure it out, unless they don’t want to pass. We got one that loves to pass.”
Then, Finney-Smith boiled it down to the most important barometer of Luka’s progress.
“That’s all that matters, winning,” he said. “Everybody’s paying attention now because we made it to the Western Conference finals. If we don’t, it’s different.”
In his preseason debut, not much was different. Luka was the best player on the court. And it wasn’t even close.
Blowing a big lead: The Mavericks had a 33-154 lead after one quarter against the Magic. But when most of the regulars headed to the bench, the advantage evaporated in a hurry and the Magic took charge in the second half.
Kidd said he was encouraged by the way the Mavericks shared the ball early, but wasn’t a fan of the way they finished the game.
“We talked before the game about making the extra pass, sharing the ball,” he said. “I thought they did that at a very high level. And defensively, we had carryover from practice and training camp in the first quarter.
“Once we got the lead, we kind of shut our engines down. We have to understand that that’s going to happen during the season and we have to learn from that.”
The Mavericks were led by Christian Wood with 23 points, but didn’t have any of their key rotation players on the court for most of the second half. That’s when the Magic pulled away down the stretch. The Mavericks trailed by 12 before a flurry of late 3-pointers closed the final gap.
An impressive preseason crowd of 19,360 greeted the Mavericks for their only home preseason game.
Break in the action: The Mavericks have only one more exhibition game and it’s not until Oct. 14 at Utah.
Kidd said it’s a bit unusual, but will afford the Mavericks the chance to have a true intrasquad game.
“We’ll have a scrimmage on Wednesday, treat it like a game and go from there,” he said. “Practice Thursday and then go to Utah. For coaches, it gives us more times to practice.
“Maybe the players would like another game so they don’t have to listen to us. We’ll see if it’s helpful. Sometimes a shortened preseason can be helpful.”
Bright future: The Orlando Magic had the worst record in the Eastern Conference last season and were rewarded with the No. 1 overall pick after winning the draft lottery.
They surprised a few people by taking Paolo Banchero, the big man out of Duke.
“He’s done a great job for us, learning the system, learning the defenses,” said Magic coach Jamahl Mosley. “He has a great court presence about him and his ability to pass the basketball is at a high level. He’s such a willing passer, such a great teammate, physically gifted. But he also has such a great IQ with the way he sees the game. He can guard one through five and as well can play the positions one through five.”
Banchero showed off some of those skills with 19 points and five rebounds. He hit 2-of-4 3-pointers.
Mosley will always have a connection to the Mavericks after serving on Rick Carlisle’s staff before taking the head position in Orlando.
He said the Mavericks will have a “different look” without Jalen Brunson, but that’s not necessarily a drawback.
“Jason is such a great coach and they got such a great group of guys around them, I think it’s going to be a good fit for all those guys they brought in,” Mosley said. “And having a great player in Luka, you’ll be able to mix some things up, too.”
Twitter: @ESefko
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