Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks, God Shammgod
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Luka Doncic #77 of the Dallas Mavericks reacts while playing the San Antonio Spurs.
While on the Dallas Mavericks, Luka Doncic worked with assistant coach and basketball legend God Shammgod. The two saw success together, but afterDoncic was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in February, Shammgod decided it was time to pack it up, too.
Now, the man with a crossover named after himself is the newest assistant coach for the Orlando Magic. Speaking in an interview promoting hisnew book, the street ball star discussed both his time with Doncic on the Mavericks and his thoughts on the young Magic team.
“Luka Doncic, of course,Luka’s like amazing,”Shammgod said of the Slovenian during the six seasons they spent together in Dallas.
Shammgod also praised Kyrie Irving, a player with a similar level of talent with the basketball in his hands, saying thathe’s had a long relationship with the championship-winning point guard.
God Shammgod On Doncic And Irving
Shammgod joined the Mavericks in 2019 and had a massive influence on Doncic in the first few years of his career. While he did have respect from players around the league, he and Doncic grew close during their time in Dallas, with the coach having a significant impact on theguard’s game.
In 2022, Tim McMahon of ESPN first covered the relationship between Shammgod and Doncic. He reported how the simple aspect of dribbling was one way Shammgod helped turn Doncic into one of the top perimeter players in the NBA.
“Luka’s imagination, is just on a whole other level,”Shammgod said. “You want to have it where every dribbling move he does is a part of that [step-back] package, becausethat’s his favorite shot. Out of any of those moves, he can get to thestepback.”
Two years later, in the midst of the Mavericks’ run to the 2024 NBA Finals, Shammgod was once again cited as a key reason for theteam’s success, led by Doncic and Irving. McMahon again highlightedShammgod’s importance to theDallas stars, while the coach himself praised their basketball abilities.
“For [Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving],it’s so many evolutions.It’s great.It’s like a painting where I have this beautiful canvas, and I canjust keep adding stuff to the canvas,”Shammgod said. “Players like them, you give small stuff and then they just make it bigger. They make it bigger with their imagination. It sounds small, but for great players, the small things are significant.”
Shammgod was reportedly abig reason for Irving wanting to join Dallas back in 2023, ashe’s knownIrving’s father and godfather for decades,and had abig influence on his playing style.
Shammgod Now With The Magic
In July,it was announcedthat Shammgod would join the Orlando Magic as an assistant coach. Now, speaking with NBC Sports, the coach discussed the rising team and its young stars, Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner.
“Paolo and Franz and them,they’re coming into their own right now,”Shammgod said. “They’re at the right age where they still young, but they, they young enough to dare. Dare to be great.”
Whilehighlighted Orlando’s top two scorers, Shammgod alsotalked about the players in particularthat he believes will contribute to winning games.
“And I, I believe like Paolo and Franz is going to be great, but Desmond Bane, Jalen Suggs, Anthony Black, we got Tyus Jones,”he added. “Now we got, we got so many great players.”
Orlando made a massive trade for Bane over the summer, sending two players and four unprotected first-round picks back to the Memphis Grizzlies. They also kept Jones and Mo Wagner on one-year deals, and locked down Banchero with a five-year, $239 million deal.
The Magic went 41-41 last season, losing in the first round of the playoffs for the second straight year.However,now with Shammgod on the staff,they are predicted to make abig leap in the East.