Dallas Mavericks Luka Doncic: Is the All-Star Guard Okay?

Luka Doncic and company have struggled as of late. Over the past five games, the Dallas Mavericks have gone 2 and 3, and two of those wins have come against the Charlotte Hornets and Indiana Pacers. One player who tends to take the blame for the team’s struggles is All-Star Luka Doncic.

There is no question about it, Luka Doncic is a top tier player in the NBA. But is the All-Star guard doing okay?

Let us take a look at three of Luka’s struggles this season:

1. Three-Point Shooting

Last season, Luka shot 31.6 from behind the three-point line. Compare that to this season, his numbers have taken quite a fall. Currently, Luka is shooting 27.8 from behind the arc. There is really no correlation as to why he is shooting so poorly from the three. Over the past two games, he has gone 0 -3 from the line each time.

This adds up to 0 -6. His best game from behind the arc came on January 13th against the Charlotte Hornets, against Charlotte he went 5 for 9 from the three and shot 55.6 percent.

Aside from that game, Luka has struggled deeply from the three-point line. He has had five games where he shot zero percent from behind the three. On the other hand, Luka’s teammate Maxi Kleber has progressed well from the arc. Kleber has made 16 of his 24 three-pointers attempted. He is currently shooting .471 and leads the team from the arc. Maybe Luka should take some notes from his teammate.

Luka Doncic has been struggling for the Dallas Mavericks, is he ok?

2. Turnover Differential

Another struggle that is not so bad is Luka’s turnover game. While the Mavs guard has not done worse, he not improved in terms of turning the ball over either. Last season, Luka averaged 4.3 turnovers per game. Compare that to this season, where Luka is averaging 4.2 turnovers. Yes, this may not be a bad thing, but it also isn’t a good thing. His inability to improve his amount of turnovers is not very promising.

Against the Houston Rockets on January 4th and on January 7th against the Denver Nuggets, Luka averaged 8 turnovers. Since those two games, Luka averages around around four per game. His best game in terms of turnovers came against the Phoenix Suns on Opening night, where he only had one.

In the playoffs Luka did not fair well in keeping the ball from the other team. In game 5 against the Los Angeles Clippers, Luka had 5 turnovers and the trend did not stop there as he also tallied five turnovers in the team’s final game of the series. While this may not seem like a lot, Luka has to show some support of improvement.

3. His Temper