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The Whiteboard: Luka Doncic is stupidly overqualified to be an NBA Draft prospect

By Ti Windisch

MADRID, SPAIN - JUNE 15: Luka Doncic, #7 guard of Real Madrid during the Liga Endesa game between Real Madrid and Kirolbet Baskonia at Wizink Center on June 15, 2018 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Sonia Canada/Getty Images)
MADRID, SPAIN - JUNE 15: Luka Doncic, #7 guard of Real Madrid during the Liga Endesa game between Real Madrid and Kirolbet Baskonia at Wizink Center on June 15, 2018 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Sonia Canada/Getty Images) /
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Some NBA Draft analysts don’t trust him, but Luka Doncic has an incredible resume for a 19-year-old.

What Luka Doncic has done by the age of 19 is incredible. The Slovenian is certainly going to be a lottery pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, thanks in large part to what he’s been able to accomplish in Europe already.

Doncic has been playing professional basketball since 2015, and was the youngest player ever to debut with Real Madrid when he first took the floor as a 16-year-old. Since then, he has played on three championship teams (2018 in Eurobasket, 2015 and 2016 in Liga ACB), earned Euroleague Final Four MVP, Euroleague MVP and Liga ACB MVP honors in 2018. He was also named to the All-Euroleague and All-Liga ACB First Teams this year. Real Madrid is currently in the Liga ACB Finals, too, with a fourth title potentially coming soon for Luka.

That’s not an exhaustive list, but the point is pretty clear: Doncic has helmed a championship team and is currently doing so again, right as NBA Draft stocks rise and fall ahead of Thursday’s culmination. His credentials are not an ironclad guarantee that Doncic will be good, but they should certainly be seen as big plusses for the teenage phenom.

Read More: How would Luka Doncic fit with the Atlanta Hawks?

Doncic can shoot the ball well and he’s an exquisite passer. He’s fiery, sometimes to a fault, and he’s got much more meaningful experience than any NCAA prospect possibly could.

Despite all of those things, the latest draft rumblings have some of the teams slated to pick in the top 5 skeptical of Doncic. There has, sadly, always been an inherent distrust of European and other non-American prospects in the U.S.

Even with international players like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kristaps Porzingis, Nikola Jokic and Clint Capela showing out without ever going through the NCAA, the stigma is still there. Maybe, just maybe, Luka Doncic will be the European star who comes through and shatters that skepticism.

Next: How would Luka Doncic fit with the Hawks

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