Jason Kidd spoke about Luka Doncic’s physical condition, the upcoming season, and newcomers on the Dallas Mavericks’ roster ahead of the new NBA season.
The Mavericks’ coach discussed the Slovenian basketball player’s physical state after the World Cup and touched on some key points for the upcoming Dallas Mavericks season, such as minute distribution and the starting lineup, in the “Saturday Stein Line” podcast hosted by journalist Marc Stein.
“I hope that as we progress, he’ll be ready to play. I suppose that in one’s career, there are times when we’re not at 100%, maybe we’re at 99 or 95%. The more games you play, the longer your career, I think you can ask anyone. No one is at 100%,” Jason Kidd said.
He made it clear what he expects from Doncic in the upcoming season.
“Looking at our roster, I don’t think we’ll need to play him 40 or more minutes. With the depth we have, I think Nico Harrison did an incredible job this summer, but I’m excited about Luka and Kyrie Irving, and the fact that Luka is ready to achieve his goals, which is to win a championship,” Kidd said.
Kidd also clarified which players he believes will be part of the Mavericks’ starting five and how they might change during preseason training:
“I’ll start with Dereck Lively and see how it goes. Over the last few weeks, our rookies have made strides as I’ve talked with the coaching staff and Nico Harrison about starting Lively alongside Luka, Kyrie, and Grant.
We’ll see how that goes, but I can say that we’ll likely give both rookies a starting role in training camp and probably in one, if not both games in Abu Dhabi, just to see how they handle the situation,” Kidd concluded.