NBA Update: Luka Doncic Names One Teammate Mavs Need To Win Games

The Dallas Mavericks appear to have another reliable player apart from Luka Doncic.

After Dirk Nowitzki officially retired, the Mavs found a new franchise superstar in Doncic. After four seasons in the league, Doncic has proven that he can do almost everything for the Mavs.

However, the Slovenian said he has one teammate who can also make a huge impact inside the court — Jalen Brunson. According to Doncic, the Mavs’ winning chances are below 50% whenever Brunson isn’t around.

“We might be below .500 if [Brunson] wasn’t here,” Doncic recently said on “The Old Man and The Three” podcast. “He’s just being unbelievable. He must be at least top-3 in the MIP [Most Improved Player] conversation.”

Brunson is playing the best basketball of his professional career. He has recorded his best totals this season, averaging 16 points and five assists per outing to date.

While Doncic acknowledges Brown’s contribution, he also lauded the new dynamics Mavs head coach Jason Kidd has built.

“With [Jason] Kidd, we have built something here,” he pointed out. “We are also playing way better defense. We win with our defense.”

After a series of incredible performances and triple-doubles this season, Doncic found himself storming back into the top 5 NBA MVP ladder. However, the three-time All-Star insisted that winning the title tops his bucket list over individual recognitions.

“NBA championship,” Doncic said of his current goals. “That’s my next jump. That’s all I want. If I get the MVP, it would be awesome, but I always put the NBA championship before.”

The Mavericks are currently fighting for the fourth seed in the Western Conference. Doncic remains the focal point of the offense, but Kidd previously admitted that he’s looking to get “more guys involved” in the rotation.

“It’s getting the rotations down,” Kidd said of his gameplan for the Mavs heading into the post-season. “And we’d like to get more guys involved here, [such as backups] Sterling [Brown] and Trey [Burke].”

“We’ve been running the minutes for those eight to nine guys that we have been playing,” he continued. “So we want to get everybody involved and get some of the minutes down for Luka and Reggie [Bullock]. We’re playing Reggie over 40 minutes a night.”

Kidd and Doncic will be looking to win all 11 games they have left in the season. As it stands, the Mavs are coming off back-to-back losses and are hoping to end the skid against the Minnesota Timberwolves Tuesday.