Colin Cowherd has never quite been the biggest Luka Doncic fan, and he raised eyebrows with his latest take on the Dallas Mavericks superstar. Cowherd claimed on The Herd that he sees a lot of similarities between Doncic and Carmelo Anthony.
"He's sort of Carmelo Anthony with a more refined game, better range,” Cowherd said. "I don't know if I'm getting anything on the other end, I don't know if his teams will succeed in the playoffs, I don't know if he's the greatest teammate, but buckets? This is Melo with a 3-point shot. You're just going to get a lot of points."
That's quite an interesting comparison. While I think Doncic is the better shooter of the two, there isn't actually a big difference there when you just compare the numbers. Luka has shot 34.7% from beyond the arc in his career while Melo was at 32.4%. Doncic, though, takes more difficult threes and deeper ones, which hurt his percentages a fair bit.
I agree with Cowherd when he points to both of them not being great defenders. While Doncic has made some improvements on that end, he still isn't a very good defender by any means. As for the rest of his points, I am not so sure about them.
Sure, Doncic's style of play isn't seen as being conducive to winning in the playoffs, but he has made it to the Western Conference Finals once. He also gave the Los Angeles Clippers a run for their money in the postseason in 2020 and 2021, despite the Mavs having a far inferior roster.
Doncic now has a good supporting cast and if the Mavericks flop in the postseason this time around, then I think it would be fair to say we can't be sure his teams can succeed in the playoffs. I think he will end up faring a lot better than Anthony, though, as the former NBA star only ever got out of the first round twice.
As for the Slovenian not being a great teammate, I would disagree with that take. Doncic seemed to have some troubles with Kristaps Porzingis when he was a Maverick, but there haven't really been any kind of clashes since then. He and Kyrie Irving seem to get along fairly well and he appears to be a well-liked figure in general now.
Cowherd brought up James Harden as an example later in that clip and I think that is a better comparison. Anthony, who averaged 2.5 assists per game for his career, was not a playmaker like Doncic by any stretch of the imagination. Harden, meanwhile, is and has had the same criticisms levied against him that Cowherd brought up.
Colin Cowherd Had Compared Doncic To Anthony In The Past As Well
This, interestingly, isn't the first time that the veteran analyst has made this comparison. Around this time last year, Cowherd compared Doncic to Anthony.
"I think Luka's becoming a little like Carmelo Anthony," Cowherd said. "Carmelo Anthony... one year of college, very young, comes into the league. Luka, a European baller, comes here into the league."
He further added: "They are immediately great scorers. And they really have some nice team success early on. Don't get along with everybody, but they score, and in the NBA, that means you are worshipped. Their offensive games are very refined. But then, after like four years, you realize that Melo and Luka are never in great shape, not committed on the defense, stuck in their ways, both get very prickly, and he's got his way.”
Since Cowherd made those comments, Doncic actually did get in shape and it's a big reason why he has had such a terrific 2023-24 season. The 25-year-old is now averaging 33.9 points, 9.2 rebounds, 9.8 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game.
Doncic has led the Mavericks to a 45-30 record and they are currently the fifth seed in the West. The five-time All-Star has a great chance in this postseason to prove his doubters like Cowherd wrong and it'll be interesting to see if he does it.
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