As a franchise that has enjoyed the services of the greatest European player to ever grace the NBA, the Dallas Mavericks may be a perfect fit for Luka Doncic.

After arriving in the league in 1998, Dirk Nowitzki is still a Mavs player 20 years later and has become the best player in the team's history and a future Hall of Famer.

Once they pulled off a trade with the Atlanta Hawks on draft night to acquire the rights to Doncic, it didn't take long for the comparisons between the two European players to start.

But the Mavericks are hoping to relieve the pressure on their latest recruit by playing down the comparisons.

Tempering expectations

Donnie Nelson, general manager and president of basketball operations for Dallas, was part of the front office that chose to draft Nowitzki and believes that Doncic is a different case altogether.

“Dirk and I had a long talk coming in,” Nelson said about drafting the big German, per NBC Sports.

“We’re obviously very excited to have (Doncic) but he’s got a very tough road ahead of him. Dirk wasn’t done any favours in his first two years.

"We are going to steer away from any of those comparisons. Luka is his own guy. He’s got his own challenges.”

As well as Dirk, the Slovenian will inevitably be compared to other international players that have played in the NBA over the years but head coach Rick Carlisle feels it's unfair to the youngster.

“I really feel it’s important that we shouldn’t try to compare this guy to anybody,” Carlisle said during an introductory news conference for the rookie.

“Let him be himself. Let his game takes its own form.”

The 19-year-old is coming off a hugely successful season in Europe with Real Madrid where he won multiple individual and collective honours.

After guiding his team to both the Euroleague and Liga ACB titles, he was named as the Euroleague MVP, Final Four MVP and Liga ACB MVP.

Many believe he has the potential to go down as the best European player to ever play in the NBA.

Therefore, it's no surprise that Carlisle feels this pick could be a defining moment in the team's rebuild.

“Last night was symbolic to me that it was kind of a defining moment in this rebuild,” he said. “We’re going propel forward with the idea that we’ve got to start winning games.”

Adding Doncic to a young core featuring Harrison Barnes and Dennis Smith Jr. will give the Mavericks the basis of an exciting team in the west that can do just that.

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