The Lakers and Mavericks played perhaps the game of the year to this point on Friday. The Lakers emerged with a 119-110 overtime win. LeBron James was in 2010 form. In his 17th season, the man remains a multi-skilled wrecking ball. An athletic marvel if there ever was one. 

But LeBron wasn’t the only superstar on the court on Friday. And, no, I’m not talking about Anthony Davis, who was also amazing, or Kristaps Porzingis, who was just OK on Friday but is clearly trending back in the direction of stardom. 

I’m talking about Luka Doncic. 

I don’t even know what to call this guy. It feels appropriate to make reference to him as a kid — like, “this kid is incredible” — because he’s not even old enough to legally buy beer. But calling him a kid also feels ridiculous, because his game is 100-percent man. In his second NBA season, Doncic is already a superstar. He’s not on his way. He’s not close. He’s there. Already. At 20 years old. His skill and feel for the game are — dare I say? — LeBron like. 

Doncic, of course, doesn’t have LeBron’s athleticism — which only further highlights how ridiculous LeBron is, that his skills and IQ are otherworldly elite ON TOP of being a physical freak. But so many other things about Luka’s game remind you of James, and it was all on display Friday night when Doncic matched LeBron’s triple-double with 31 points, 15 assists and 13 rebounds of his own. 

Check this out:

That is, indeed, pretty cool. But even cooler than the numbers was watching the way Luka went about his business. When I say he looked, and often looks, LeBron-like, I’m talking his combination of size and skill, 6-foot-8 with the vision and creativity to see the whole floor. He’s a genius-level passer who can score from anywhere on the floor, against any defense. And the maturity to balance those ever-tantalizing assets with his overarching instinct, and willingness, to whatever play the situation calls for is well beyond his years. 

It reminds you, again, of a young LeBron. 

These things that always came so naturally to LeBron, they come naturally to Luka, too. This play below didn’t come from the Lakers game, but just look at this pass Luka made against New Orleans:

The ability to rocket passes like that, from great distances, off balance, swarmed by defenders, and put it right on the money is something only a few players in history have been capable of doing. LeBron is probably the best ever at this, and Luka is right behind. Tell me this step-back three, already one of Luka’s signature moves, doesn’t have LeBron written all over it:

In fact, LeBron gave Luka the same step-back business, from the same left wing, to basically seal the game in OT:

But Luka was more up to the challenge of going blow for blow with arguably the greatest player ever. Here Luka casually crosses LeBron up one-on-one:

Doncic was 4-for-9 from beyond the arc on Friday night. He’s only shooting 32 percent from three this season, but that number in no way reflects the threat he poses, or how comfortable he looks, from distance. By percentage, LeBron has never been a great 3-point shooter either, but when you need one to go down, when it’s late in the clock or late in the game, when he’s in an overall rhythm offensively, you feel like every shot he takes is going in. 

Same deal for Luka. When the Mavs were down five with three minutes to go in overtime, and they had to get a bucket, you KNEW this shot was going in:

Put it all together — the shooting, the passing, the size and strength, the ball-handling, the ability to get to the rim and finish through contact, the creativity, the confidence, the instincts and feel, and there’s just nothing you can do with Doncic. Again, he’s 20 years old. He’s five games into his second NBA season. And already, look at all the different ways he can beat you:

Awhile back, I was talking with an Eastern Conference scout who said he ultimately evaluates players based on one question: How would they fare in the second round of the playoffs? In the regular season, there’s more space in which to operate. The defenses are more basic, less physical and less prepared to exploit your every weakness. Even in the first round of the playoffs, you can end up in a mismatched series where talent alone can override all other factors. 

But the second round is where the men start to separate themselves. Most of the time you are down to the elite teams by then. The best defensive teams. The toughest teams. The best players. If you’re a No. 1 option, you’re going to get the kitchen sink thrown at you in the second round of the playoffs. Everything you do is going to be contested. Double teamed. You’re going to get knocked around and ruthlessly blitzed. You’re going to be dog tired, playing upwards of 40 minutes of the most intense basketball on earth every single game. 

This is meant as no disrespect to a guy like Trae Young — who is spectacular in his own right, and was of course traded for Doncic on draft night back in 2018 — but there is some mystery as to how Young, at this stage of his career, would fare in the second round of the playoffs. Could he handle the physicality? Could he find other ways to score if his shot wasn’t going? Would he even be able to get his shot off consistently? Perhaps we’ll learn some of this stuff as soon as this season. Trae has been awesome. The Hawks could make the playoffs. 

Still, until we see it, there is some mystery. 

There is no such mystery with Luka. He has all the skills, but equally importantly, he has the “man” part of the game that simply takes longer to develop in other players, if it ever does. If his shot isn’t going, he’s going to get in the lane. He’s going to get to the free throw line. He’s going to rebound. Defend with size. He can be the best player on the floor three or four different ways. 

That’s the all-around stuff that’s built to last. That’s the stuff you knew LeBron had the minute you laid eyes on him. You didn’t need to wait and see. It was obvious. After the game on Friday, ESPN’s Doris Burke asked LeBron about Doncic, who had told her before the game that while he would never compare himself to LeBron, he certainly was a player Luka was watching when he was growing up in Slovenia and playing professional basketball at the age of 16. 

“You never know who you can inspire, along your path,” James told Burke. “You hope you can inspire the next generation. For me, by me playing the game the right way, always getting my teammates involved, playing for the purity of the game, I was able to inspire a kid that wasn’t even in America. That’s pretty special. Obviously we see what [Luka’s] capable of doing. His ability to make plays not only for himself, but for his teammates, rebounding, just play for the purity of the game, it’s a beautiful thing to watch.”