Every year before the season begins, the ESPN preseason player rankings are released. And every season, those rankings are on the end of a lot of criticism. This year they have ranked Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic as number four, and it has left many displeased, including NBA analyst Skip Bayless.

He said, “Riddle me this, the 4th best player who says the NBA ranking, can’t shoot, can’t clutch shoot, and is a defensive liability. Help me out here, I give you, really gifted passer, maybe second to LeBron.

“He finally makes a walk-off against my Clippers and before them, last season, in last-minute shots, potential game-tying or go-ahead shots, he was 0 for 10 in the fourth quarter or overtime. 0 for 10 until he finally made it, he was 1 for 11. Clutch? He had 21 missed 3-point shots in the final minutes of games last year, that ranked last in the NBA.”

Is Skip Bayless right about Luka Doncic?

In the 2018-19 season, a rookie 19-year-old Doncic showed he is one of the most clutch players in the league. He rescued the Mavericks on many occasions and single-handedly won them games, all as a rookie.

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But he wasn’t able to replicate the same numbers in his second season and struggled a bit. One of the reasons could be his insanely high usage percentage. He had a 36% usage rate in the 2019-20 season, as compared to 30% in the 2018-19 season. So that just increased the workload and the pressure on him.

Another reason could be the struggles of his co-star Kristaps Porzingis when it came to the clutch moments. So he may have tried to force shots even more.

But this is still a 21-year-old sophomore we’re talking about. The sophomore who in his first-ever playoff series, hit a buzzer-beater against one of the best teams in the league. Had it not been for Porzingis’ injury, Doncic would have led the Mavericks into the next round.

His defense has been lackluster and there is no ‘defending’ that. But one can hope that with age and experience, Doncic will excel in that department as well.

Skip Bayless is infamous for hating on players who are great like LeBron James, so Doncic might be on the right track after all.

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