By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Luka Doncic is by far the most decorated European project ever in the history of basketball. At 19 years old, he’s won everything there is to win in Europe on a club and international scale, sometimes beating future Hall Of Famers or established NBA players with recognized superstar potential. Usually, Doncic brought an MVP impact to his team’s successes while sometimes he literally took the MVP award in his bags back home.
NBA General Managers and front offices have been raving about Doncic’s talent. He’s projected as a lottery pick and even a possible No. 1 selection by pretty much every NBA Draft specialist.
Doncic’s accomplishments at an individual and team level, aren’t simply rare, but completely unprecedented for a player of his age. Yet it seems that there are those who aren’t really convinced. Like Charles Barkley, for example.
The 11-time All-Star isn’t exactly sold on Doncic and doesn’t consider him to be something even remotely special. Actually, Barkley believes that the MVP honors the Slovenian player has won simply show one thing: That he was playing “against sh**ty competition”.
Here’s what Barkley said in an interview for Scott Pollard’s podcast “Planet Pollard Podcast”:
“I don’t trust foreign competition. I don’t have nothing against foreign players. I just don’t know what kind of a competition it is. They’re like, at 18 years old he was the MVP. Well, that tells me he was playing against shi**y competition. Nobody at 18 should be dominating grown men. I don’t care how bad the grown men are.”
“You go back and look at the NBA. I’ve been in the NBA for over 30 years. There’s only one 18 year old that you can go back and say ‘oh he’s the real deal’. That’s LeBron James. People forget, as great as Kobe Bryant was, he struggled for the first few years. Kevin Garnett? Struggled in his first few years.”
“They keep telling Doncic won MVP at 18. He shouldn’t be dominating grown men at 18. For this kid to be dominating… I wouldn’t take him with the No. 1 or 2 pick in the NBA Draft”