Luka Doncic is a 20-year-old basketball phenom who happens to play on the same team as future Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki. That dynamic presents a lot of wisdom to be passed down from Dirk as Doncic leads the next generation of NBA stars.
If only Doncic actually cared about Dirk had to say.
The 21-year vet spoke with reporters on Thursday in Miami and was asked about that 2011 championship run against the Heat. Reporters wanted to know if Doncic had any interest in Dirk’s experience of leading an NBA title team. It was the kind of question that could have set up the classic Luka is a student of the game practice notebook.
Luka, though, would rather roast Dirk than hear any of his old stories.
Dirk said, jokingly:
“No, every time I mention the past, he’s like, ‘You’re so old. You’re so old.’ He doesn’t listen. He’s a young man, but he’s an old soul, I guess. I don’t know. He doesn’t want to hear some of the old stories … Porzingis, yeah, shows a little more respect towards me than Luka does. Luka is reckless at times. But yeah, it’s been almost eight years ago. That’s a long time.”
In a way, it’s bonkers to hear someone talk about 2011 as a long time ago, but Luka was 12 years old at the time. I guess Luka is right — that does make Dirk old.
