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On Thursday, one of the EuroLeague’s top playmakers was compared to Dallas Mavericks superstar guard Luka Doncic. However, given the age and experience gap between the two, the four-time All-Star reacted in humility to the comparison.
BasketNews tweeted a clip of Crvena Zvezda veteran point guard Milos Teodosic’s highlight pass against Olimpia Milano. The outlet captioned the clip “Milos Teodosic delivering a Doncic-esque pass.”
However, rather than accept the flattering praise, Doncic, 24, pointed out that the 36-year-old started playing basketball well before him. So, he implied that, if anything, he should be the one being compared to Teodosic, not the other way around.
“I wasn’t born yet when he was already making those passes,” Doncic tweeted.
Doncic’s response wasn’t far off, as he was born in 1999, while Teodosic started playing for FMP from Belgrade in 2001 at the age of 14. He then began playing for Olympiacos in 2007 at the age of 20.
So, the EuroLeague star has been playing professionally for a long time, including a brief NBA stint with the LA Clippers from 2017 to 2019. Hence, most would probably agree that it’s nice to see Doncic paying respect to a fellow European star who helped pave the way for him.
Milos Teodosic on playing in the NBA, Luka Doncic’s potential
Back in 2018, Milos Teodosic spoke with Basketball Sphere about the differences between playing in Europe and the NBA. He also previewed Luka Doncic’s NBA career, as he was beginning his transition to the league from Real Madrid at the time.
Teodosic highlighted how the NBA’s 82-game season is much longer than Europe’s, leading to less of a sense of urgency to win each game.
“In Europe, however, there is more pressure,” Teodosic said. “Every game is crucial, while in the United States and the NBA, it is different. The defeat is accepted differently.”
He also touched on how travel between games is much easier in the NBA, as teams often “have a couple of games on the East Coast.” He contrasted this to the EuroLeague where teams must “fly from Moscow to Barcelona, and then go to Krasnodar right away.”
Over 60 games with the Clippers, Teodosic averaged 8.0 points, 2.4 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 0.4 steals and 1.6 3-pointers per game on 42.0% shooting. He started in 36 of those contests. However, he opted to return to Europe after being waived by LA in 2019.
As for his thoughts on Luka Doncic’s potential, Teodosic had extremely high expectations for his NBA career. He compared him to former EuroLeague legend and New Jersey Nets star Drazen Petrovic.
“Since Drazen, there hasn’t been such a young but great talent,” Teodosic said. “Luka led Real Madrid to the European champion trophy and carried the whole team throughout the season. He plays that style of transition basketball, faster. … I’m convinced that he has an amazing NBA career in front of him.”
Doncic has fared much better than Teodosic in the NBA. Over his first six seasons, the 24-year-old has established himself as one of the league’s premier players. Through 364 career games, Doncic is averaging 28.1 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 8.1 apg, 1.1 spg and 2.9 3pg on 46.8% shooting.
So, Teodosic was certainly correct in his assessment of Doncic.
In Photos: Luka Doncic shares daughter Gabriela's custom Jordan Luka 1 colorways on IG
