Jason Kidd fears Luka Doncic may hit physical wall around Christmas / News - Basketnews.com

Luka Doncic has the highest usage rate in the NBA, and the Dallas Mavericks head Jason Kidd fears the Slovenian superstar could hit a physical or mental wall around Christmas.

Credit: AFP-Scanpix Credit AFP-Scanpix

Luka Doncic has a 37.3% usage rate, and the Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd fears it could cause big problems in the near future.

Tonight, the Mavericks suffered a 105-113 loss against the Washington Wizards, with Doncic scoring his season-low 22 points (5/13 2PT, 3/8 3PT, 3/9 FT), adding 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, and 5 turnovers.

"There are possessions [the Mavs] have to help Luka on defense because he's doing so much on just the offensive end," Kidd said before the Wizards game. "We've got to be able to find that balance for him to participate defensively, so that helps us win games. But the usage rate is so high, so sometimes there are going to be some situations where he doesn't participate. It happens. Been there, done that."

"But the one thing is we're only 10 games into this, so we'll figure that out. But the big thing is understanding who's going to help, who's going to be consistent being that second, third, fourth player.

We have a group. We don't just have Robin next to him. We have a group of guys that have to participate. Right now, we'll have one or two participate, and then those two disappear, and then another two show up. We have to become consistent in that area," Kidd added.

Kidd also highlighted that such a trend can't continue for too long as he fears that Doncic might be gassed physically or mentally around Christmas already.

"We believe he's human, but when everyone is going to come at you every night on the defensive end, and then we're asking you to do everything offensive, it's going to show within 25 games. And I would say that's somewhere around Christmas."

Even though Doncic is still only 23 years old, Mavericks head coach believes it can definitely have an effect in the future.

"Everyone's going to say he's 23 years old, but he's human," Kidd said. "The other side of this is he's falling a lot right now, and that's one of the areas that we'll talk about is I'm going to try to keep him off the floor. Wood always wins because he is human. Bruises will start to appear.

"You look at the great ones. [Allen Iverson], a lot of guys hit the floor a lot. [Hitting the floor] doesn't catch you in that year or the second year, but Father Time is faster just because of the hits. And it's not the physical hits, the human-to-human hits. It's the floor. The floor is going to win. It's always won, it's always been hard, and it's not going to change. So we have to figure out how to keep him on his feet," Kidd concluded.

So far, Doncic averages 33.6 points [1st in the NBA], 8.3 rebounds, and 7.9 assists. Meanwhile, the Mavericks have a 6-5 record and stand in 7th place in the Western Conference.

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