Jordan Goodwin knows Luka Doncic’s game better than most. He spent last season as Doncic’s teammate in Los Angeles before the Lakers waived him, and Phoenix picked him up. Now he is on the other side of a matchup with an 11-2 Lakers team, and the friendship does not buy him a single stop.
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“Me and Luka, we’re real cool. We’re real close. We were close when I was in L.A. So, we always talk. We’re going to be talking crazy, but it’s going to be respectful basketball. It’s going to be good bump tomorrow,” Goodwin said when asked how he’d respond to Doncic’s trash-talking.
Even in their recent game, Doncic’s trash talk was on display. He made sure Hawks fans remembered the 2018 NBA Draft during the Lakers’ 124-114 win in Atlanta on November 10. Luka had a message for the courtside crowd: “You all wish you would have had me. You all wish, huh?”
“We are going to see. If he starts talking, he starts talking, but we’ll see how the game goes.” He further added while speaking to journalist Duane Rankin, who posted the conversation on X.
Doncic is obviously perhaps the best player in the league so far this season. He’s averaged 38.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 7.6 assists per game, making him the NBA’s top scorer.
Moreover, whenever he gets fired up, the trash talk goes up and so does the scoring. This was evident in his games against the Warriors. In the first one, the Lakers won after Doncic got into it with Golden State rookie Yaxel Lendeborg
Regardless, averaging nearly 40 points a game has made the Slovenian the leading name in the MVP race. Jordan Goodwin knows this very well. Not only because Doncic is a phenom, but because he’s worked with him closely.
Goodwin isn’t a regular starter for the Suns. However, he’ll likely be tasked with guarding his former teammate off the bench. Doncic outsizes Goodwin by a few inches, so the Suns guard knows that he has to stay in the game and create pressure however he can.
“I’ve just got to go out there and compete,” Goodwin said when asked how he’d defend Doncic. “Luka’s a great player. He can put the ball in the hole, can manipulate the game with fouls and his savvy play. But I’m just going to be myself, attack him how I attack everybody else and watch my film. I’m just going to check the ball up.”
By treating Doncic like any other player, Goodwin may win on a mental level. After all, if he lets the Slovenian get to him, the game may be jeopardized. So he needs to utilize his fantastic perimeter defense abilities.
Goodwin can be great for the Suns. So far in the season, he has averaged 1.6 steals per game. For a bench player, that’s quite the number, and it’s exactly the skill set the Suns need against a proficient scorer like Doncic.
Though Goodwin can put up a decent defense individually, it’s the team that makes the game. And right now, the Suns are 11th in the conference.