Lets admit the obvious: SGA is a better player than Luka

[shi-woo]

Luka when I watch him play looks like 30 yo LeBron without the defense. Which imo is James Harden level of player, but doesn't fold under pressure. When I watch SGA I see prime Wade, but also without the defense or fire. Which is a Westbrook type of player.

We can argue all we want about the late 2010 MVPs, but at the end of the day neither is LeBron or Curry (Giannis and Jokic).

Neither guy has impressed on the big stage, similar to Tatum and Book before them as young guns, but they still have time. It's clear what both these dudes have to work on, as both are just offensive maestros that act as offensive engines. They are similar level at this point, people just still like SGA unlike Luka.

It's splitting hairs comparing these two right now, hit me up when they are both 30 and Luka finally has a team around him, and SGA isn't playing with a bunch of rookie contract players.

[tamaraw08]

how about putting sga on last year's mav team

how about putting sga on the 2018 24win dallas team. that was their last year before drafting luka

Here we go again with this very stupid take that Luka is such a bad defender that no teammate can save him and the opposing team would simply exploit his lack of defense.

If this is the case then OKC lead by SGA, Jdub and all teammates are too stupid and dumb that they FAILED TO OUTSCORE Dallas and average 120pts/game when they faced each other last year.
OKC just averaged 106 pts, shot UNDER 46% against Dallas with a bad defender like Luka.

SGA averaged 32, 8, and 7, 59.9 TS% in that series and he’s better this year.

Not enough to dispute my point. SGA should have averaged 45 pts on 70%TS AND the whole team should have averaged 125 pts if the narrative that Luka is a very bad defender AND that no teammate can hide his weakness.

[Astaluego]

The Pacers attacked SGA 23 times in Game 3 with excellent results...because Luka was exposed last year.

[Mirotic12]

Luka is too big to ever be able to consistently guard fast guards on the perimeter, that's just a fact. But when he is healthy he can do it ok, and he is probably an above average defender vs bigger players and in the post even against some "centers".

I don't know why this is hard to understand. Think of it this way. Let's say Luka guards SGA or any other super fast guard, and there is no help defence. How many points will SGA score? Probably 50, maybe even 70. Now reverse it. Let's say SGA guards Luka and there is no help defence allowed. How many will Luka score? Well it's going to go over 100.

So it's unfair for bigger players to be rated defensively purely in 1v1 matchups when other factors aren't considered. Also, by this logic Hakeem would be a bad defender as well. Modern guards would cook him on the perimeter, but that's not how you measure defence.

And ofc i'm not saying Luka is a lockdown defender, but his lack of defence isn't really such a big deal when on most days he will score twice as much as he will allow

Hakeem was quick enough and agile enough that guards of today would not cook him on defense.

[BmanInBigD]

You can reasonably argue that either player is better. But it’s certainly not obvious. SGA can apparently be neutered by good defense. Not sure that Luka can be, he’s too big and smart.

[web123888]

SGA is getting thoroughly exposed this series.

[BmanInBigD]

SGA is getting thoroughly exposed this series.

If they let him push off the defender with his elbow like they always have and never figure out how to call him on it (or have the balls to), he will definitely end up with a better career than Luka. Good for him for being able to get away with it, but hopefully it'll catch up with him eventually.

[notagenius]

SGA is getting thoroughly exposed this series.

Averaging over 30 on 50% shooting is getting exposed?

C'mon son. Dudes killing it.

Sent from my SM-S918W using RealGM mobile app

[ImmortalD24]

SGA already has twice the amount of finals wins. Lukas Mavs only won 1 game (Game 4) vs Celtics and lost by 18 pts in game 5 closeout game. Pathetic.

[Mr. Perfect]

SGA already has twice the amount of finals wins. Lukas Mavs only won 1 game (Game 4) vs Celtics and lost by 18 pts in game 5 closeout game. Pathetic.

Only thing pathetic here is your schtick. SGA is playing on a stacked team that is heavily favoured against a 4-seed. OKC should be up 3-1.

Keep rooting for your fake superstar who's game relies on push-offs and foul baiting. We know what we see.

[ImmortalD24]

SGA already has twice the amount of finals wins. Lukas Mavs only won 1 game (Game 4) vs Celtics and lost by 18 pts in game 5 closeout game. Pathetic.

Only thing pathetic here is your schtick. SGA is playing on a stacked team that is heavily favoured against a 4-seed. OKC should be up 3-1.

Keep rooting for your fake superstar who's game relies on push-offs and foul baiting. We know what we see.

After this season he can possibly get:
Championship
Finals MVP
Western Conference mvp
Regular season mvp (should've been 2time got robbed last year)
Scoring champion

Yet he's a fake superstar??

[Raps in 4]

SGA haters in shambles right now.

[syrus3]

Just saw the clip where Scott Foster literally watched SGA push off the defender, travel and then hit his shot. Can’t make this sh*t up. Scooby Doo is a fraud!

[gp2015]

Just saw the clip where Scott Foster literally watched SGA push off the defender, travel and then hit his shot. Can’t make this sh*t up. Scooby Doo is a fraud!

Foster also literally watched as Nesmith grabbed SGA's jersey.

[ImmortalD24]

No it's not guys like Bennedict Mathurin being foul maniacs blatantly fouling.. it's SGA who for whatever reason the NBA / Refs like. SGA earned each and every one of his free throws throughout the finals and playoffs. No foul baiting whatsoever he's just smart and knows the angles and gets guys off balance.

He's a combo of Allen Iverson and Kobe Bryant that can just get through gaps.. he doesn't have highlight above the rim plays.. so what? Luka gets stuffed by the rim on the daily and doesn't play a lick of defense.

[syrus3]

Scooby Doo is a mid defender who gets called elite because of the hackers and maulers on his team.

[HotRocks34]

If Luka had 0 assists in a Finals game, he'd get crushed. He got hit hard after he had 1 in Game 1 against the Celtics last year.

SGA has now played the most minutes of anyone in the 2025 playoffs. He is leading in Total PTS and I think Total STL and Total WS.

Last year Luka led the playoffs in Total PTS, REB, AST and STL. He was just behind the WS lead.

They're both great players, but the responsibilities are different.

Before anyone says "but the defense," here's how Dallas' Individual DRTG looked over the entirety of the playoffs.



Also Luka had 3+ injuries in the postseason last year and was ill in the first round.

[Patches Perry]

Shai with 35 and a 15 point 4th quarter in a come from behind victory in a must-win finals game. Dude is incredible. Very Kobe and Jordan like tonight. It was very physical on both ends and he pushed through. This is a staple game for his career so far.

[Mephariel]

I agree with the assessment that you can say either player is better but it isn't obvious. I think SGA is easier to build around, but Luka can go nuclear harder.

[SpurNani]

Im more a fan of Luka but you can’t argue with what SGA has accomplished this year. It’ll be one of the greatest seasons we’ve ever seen if he can finish it off with winning his franchise their first ever championship with a finals MVP to cap it off.

I think Luka is the more dominant versatile offensive threat over SGA, and he can reach a level on offense that maybe only Jokic or Giannis can match. But i question his temperament, especially in big games. Like take tonight for example, i could see Luka imploding and getting Td up and dragging ass on defense if he wasn’t getting calls on the road. I think SGA is better mentally, more of a leader.