Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic recently praised new head coach Jason Kidd, calling the chance to play for the 12-time All-Star an “excellent opportunity”, as relayed by BasketNews.com.
“I think he’s an excellent coach who also knows a lot about how to play basketball and how to lead a team,” Doncic said. “It is an excellent opportunity for me to grow and I think it will help me a lot.”
Doncic, 22, is coming off yet another impressive season, averaging 27.7 points, eight rebounds and 8.6 assists per game. Doncic also expressed confidence that the Mavericks could compete for a championship this year, sporting key pieces such as himself, Kristaps Porzingis, Tim Hardaway Jr. and others.
“As I say, that is my goal and I believe that you can always fight,” he explained. “We’ll see how the season goes, but in my opinion we can be there, fighting for everything. I do not know if we need one or two players. We first have to start playing and then we will see what happens.”
There’s more out of the Southwest Division tonight:
- Spurs guard Bryn Forbes has hired Octagon for his new representation, the agency announced on social media (Twitter link). Forbes signed with San Antonio last month after spending the 2020-21 season with the NBA champion Bucks. Before joining the Bucks, the 28-year-old sharpshooter played his first four seasons with the Spurs, appearing in 261 games. He was previously represented by Excel Sports Management.
- Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com rates the Celtics-Grizzlies trade featuring Kris Dunn, Carsen Edwards and Juan Hernangomez. As we previously relayed, Boston is set to trade Dunn, Edwards and a 2026 second-round pick swap to Memphis in exchange for Hernangomez.
- In case you missed it, the Spurs decided to waive 23-year-old forward Chandler Hutchison this weekend. San Antonio acquired Hutchison as part of a five-team August trade. He appeared in 25 contests with the Bulls and Wizards last season, averaging 5.7 points and 18.2 minutes per contest.
More must-reads: