What did Luka Doncic’s 60-point showing reveal about similarities to LeBron James?

The past few days have been quite eventful for Mavericks star Luka Doncic.

On Dec. 25, he led Dallas to a hard-fought victory over the LeBron James-led Los Angeles Lakers. Two days later, the 23-year-old strengthened his NBA MVP odds with a 60-point triple-double that captivated audiences around the world. Doncic’s performance earned praise and led some viewers to draw comparisons between the Slovenian and some of professional basketball’s all-time greats.

Bill Simmons wasted no time putting together side-by-side statistics when looking at Doncic and James during his recent podcast episode. Simmons kicked off the show by discussing how Doncic’s numbers compared to James’ at the five-year mark of their respective careers.

One of the aspects that stood out to Simmons about Doncic’s game was the level of aggressiveness he plays with.

“The thing [Doncic] has at this point of his career that LeBron just didn’t have at all, not even close, is his bully ball stuff,” Simmons said. “That’s stuff LeBron didn’t really have until his second, third Miami season and even then, he didn’t really have it until he got to Cleveland. That was when he really filled out and started to develop this power game, and was able to mix in the perimeter stuff with the low-post stuff.”

Simmons added that Doncic might not have the same level of athleticism as James, but the Mavs’ star has a ‘little more to his game at this point.’ After that, Simmons point to Doncic’s three all-NBA first team selections after his first four seasons, while James didn’t earn his first all-NBA team honor until 2005.

Related:Where does Luka Doncic’s 60-point triple-double rank in NBA, Mavs history?

“Nights like [Tuesday] are when we really start wondering, you think, ‘We’ll never see another LeBron again’ and ‘Luka is going to be his version of Luka,’” Simmons said. “At the same time, maybe this is a thing where, like, every 15, 16, 17 years a guy like this comes into the league. Before LeBron, it was [Michael] Jordan, he came in in the mid-80s and maybe that’s just how this is going to go.”

Doncic made his mark on multiple historical categories with his historic game against New York, becoming the first player to record a 60-point, 20-rebound triple-double. He also shattered Dirk Nowitzki’s single-game franchise scoring record (53 points.)

Speaking of scoring, Simmons also discussed James’ quest toward becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and how it pertains to Doncic. James is currently 601 points away from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s first-place spot.

“[Doncic] is over 8,000 points now, he’s 23 years old and by the end of this season he’ll be pretty close to 10,000 assuming he doesn’t get hurt,” Simmons said. “LeBron after five years was 10,689, he had two first-team all-NBAs, two second-teams. Luka already has three first-team all-NBAs.

“Today was the first day I was thinking like, ‘Man, LeBron better keep playing. Don’t wrap it up after you get to 38,000 because I don’t know what Luka is capable of.’”

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