Max Kellerman keeps returning to the same Luka Doncic criticism, and it still does not hold up. Pointing to a missing championship at age 26 says more about impatience than it does about Doncic’s game.
This idea that he is somehow behind schedule ignores how this league actually works. On Game Over with Max Kellerman and Rich Paul, Kellerman said, “Luka has so far been James Harden 2.0,” arguing that while Doncic is an offensive monster who can take teams deep, that style does not lead to titles.
He doubled down by saying an offense built around one player pounding the ball late in the shot clock just is not winning basketball, no matter how talented that player is. On paper, that sounds reasonable. In reality, it is a lazy context.
History shows that patience matters
Michael Jordan did not win his first championship until he was 28. LeBron James did not get one until he was 27. Nobody was labeling them flawed superstars because they had not finished the job yet.
Those two were young, dominant, and still learning how to win at the very top. Doncic being judged more harshly at 26 makes no sense. The Harden comparison also falls apart fast.
Harden had playoff runs in which his numbers dipped and his impact faded as pressure spiked. Doncic has gone the opposite direction. In the 2024 playoffs, he dragged the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA Finals while putting up nearly 29 points a night, flirting with triple-doubles, and controlling games against elite defenses.
Over his playoff career, he has averaged over 30 points. That is not someone shrinking under the lights. Now add in the Lakers wrinkle, which Kellerman barely accounts for.
Doncic is no longer doing this alone. He is playing alongside LeBron James, a four-time champion who has made a career of adapting his game to other stars. LeBron figured it out with Dwyane Wade, Kyrie Irving, and Anthony Davis.
Acting like he can’t coexist with Doncic feels disconnected from everything we have watched over the last two decades. Last postseason, LeBron and Luka barely had time to build chemistry before the games started to matter.
This season is different. There is time and reps. That matters when you are evaluating how a ball-dominant star functions in the playoffs. Kellerman is not wrong that some ball-dominant styles can fail.
However, he is wrong to assume Doncic is stuck in one. History shows greatness usually comes before championships, not the other way around. Jordan waited. LeBron waited. Doncic is right where he should be. If history is telling, Doncic should be crowned a champion in the near future.