Jason Kidd is worried about Luka Doncic

Doncic is leading the league in scoring with 33.6 points per game, and he's also taking the most shots every game, 23.6. He averages 7.9 assists and 3.4 turnovers each game, which tells us that Luka has the ball in his hands all the time for Dallas. He's leading the league in usage rate (an estimate of the percentage of a team's possessions used by a single player) with 39.1 percent, up from his league-leading 37.4 percent last season and his league-leading 36 percent usage rate in 2019-20. The year before, he was second.

It puts a lot of pressure on Doncic to be personally responsible for so much of the offense. The Mavericks have only been middle-of-the-pack in offensive efficiency the past few years, though Doncic's ability to carry an offense allows them to play more defensive-minded, offense-limited players. It also puts a lot of miles on the 23-year-old star in the regular season for a team that hopes to play deep into May and June.

Kidd is also concerned about how much Luka crashes to the ground.

Doncic is second in the NBA in fouls drawn, behind only Giannis Antetokounmpo (8.1 per game to the Greek Freak's 9.2), but Giannis is much bigger than Doncic and a greater share of his fouls are opponents grabbing him or fouling on rebounds. Doncic gets fouled more on drives and thus hits the ground more often.

Not only do those falls add up over a career, but they limit Doncic during the regular season. He missed 17 games with various injuries last year, particularly a recurring ankle problem.

What's the solution? Get the ball out of Luka's hands more. Sure, the Mavs want Luka to dominate in crunch time, but Spencer Dinwiddie could take charge more often in the first three quarters. And more than any team, Dallas could use a steady, reliable, boring backup point guard to bring the ball up, throw entry passes to Christian Wood and let Luka spot up.

Doncic has been amazing this season, but the Mavs need to protect him or he'll be too banged up to be amazing in April.