Luka Doncic is arguably the best player in the NBA. Doncic is among the favorites to win the MVP during the 2024-25 season. One thing that Doncic does not do all that often in the NBA is dunk the basketball, though. There was a time in Luka's career where he dunked the ball on a more consistent basis, however.
25 dunks in a season is not exactly a jaw-dropping number for an NBA player. Still, it is far more dunk attempts than Doncic took during the 2023-24 season.
Luka Doncic's dunk numbers have steadily declined during his NBA career
Doncic's Basketball Reference page provides a statistic on the matter that puts the situation into perspective even more. .022 percent of Doncic's field goal attempts were dunks during his rookie season in 2018-19. That mark declined to just .001 percent in 2023-24.
Doncic's dunking tendencies have been trending in a similar direction for most of his NBA career. In 2019-20, only .012 percent of his shots were dunk attempts. The trend continued in 2020-21 (.008 percent) and 2021-22 (.006 percent). Luka's dunk attempts increased a bit during the 2022-23 campaign (.010 percent) before he recorded a career-low in the statistic in 2023-24.
Yet, the 2023-24 season was arguably Luka Doncic's best overall performance in the NBA. He led the league in points per game (33.9, which was a career-high) on 48.7 percent field goal and a career-high 38.2 percent three-point shooting. Doncic also finished with career-high averages in assists per game (9.8) and rebounds per game (9.2).
So why is Doncic not dunking as much as he used to? Well, only Luka knows the exact answer to the question. I can provide you with some analysis about why he may be heading in a different direction, though.
Doncic has always been a student of the game. He loves to learn and grow as a player. It is quite possible that Doncic has realized he simply does not need to dunk to find success. He is a tremendous finisher around the basket as a result of his craftiness. Of course, Luka can connect on incredible jump-shot attempts as well.
In other words, Doncic finds ways to score from all over the floor. Sure, he probably could throw down some more dunks while he's around the basket. But Luka only dunked twice in 2023-24 and he still enjoyed a memorable campaign.
What do you think Doncic's final dunk numbers will look like during the upcoming 2024-25 season?
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