Editor’s note: We’re bring back some of our best stories from the 2020 sports season. This story was originally published on January 3.

Jerry West is 81 and still working in the league that chose him for its label. Like a dog chasing a ball, he says. Some dog. Named one of the 50 best players ever. Won seven NBA titles as a player or general manager. Built not one but two Lakers dynasties. Traded for Kobe Bryant’s draft rights, signed Shaquille O’Neal, hired Phil Jackson. Yeah, if you’d lived the Logo’s life, maybe you’d be jaded, too.

He watches games as a consultant for the Clippers, and he sees stuff he doesn’t like. The analytics don’t always add up. It’s not necessarily all the 3’s. It’s when the wrong people are shooting them.

“It’s a beautiful game when it’s played right,” he says, “and it’s ugly when it’s not.”

Does Luka Doncic play it right?

“My goodness, yes,” West says, laughing. “Everyone wishes they had a 20-year-old who plays like him, and he hasn’t even scratched the surface.

“It’s fun to watch genius.”

Genius?

“I’ve been around a long time,” he says, “and I’ve seen a lot of special players. How many superstars are there in the league at any given time? Maybe five or six. There’s a difference between All-Stars and superstars.

“A superstar is different, and that’s what he is.”

Huge numbers in a huge win to kick off the new year. Luka brought the heat tonight!@luka7doncic | #MFFL pic.twitter.com/MQAODK7S3c — Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) January 3, 2020

West was a superstar, and he played against a few. One of them was his biggest rival: Oscar Robertson. Doncic has been compared with several players past and present, but the Big O seems like the closest fit. Mostly because of the triple doubles. Doncic has put up nine triples this season. In 1962-63, Robertson averaged a triple double.

Oscar was a big guard for his time at 6-5, 205. Doncic is 6-7, 230. Like Oscar, Luka uses his strength and size to make space between himself and a defender, thus allowing him to create shots. Defenders don’t bother them much. That’s the difference between great players and average players, West says. The greats don’t flinch.

Given the similarities, then, is Luka like Oscar?

“I would say no,” says West, who knows as well as anyone. “I bet Oscar never took a shot over 17, 19 feet. In that era, 17 feet was a long shot.”

Luka’s shooting percentage this season is nearly 48%, up from 43% his rookie year. His 3-point percentage is nearly identical, but West says it’ll improve. He’ll get better at everything.

“When I say better,” he says, “it looks easy for him now, but it’ll get easier.”

West is confident in Luka’s future because the game suits his skill set so well. The floor spacing allows him to see the play in front of him. His instincts, West says, are like LeBron James’. He thinks a play ahead, and he’s confident in his shot.

Luka plays like a 10-year veteran, West says, and yet he’s still just 20. Asked if he’s ever seen a player as advanced at such a young age, he cites Kobe and Earvin Johnson. That’s what he calls him. Earvin. Not Magic. Magic was a visionary who could play any position on the floor and sometimes did in the same game. Just this year, West called him the greatest Laker ever. Kobe was a cold-blooded scorer, maybe the most clutch player of his generation. He also made 12 All-Defensive teams, the most of any guard in league history.

Magic and Kobe were in the conversation for the greatest players of their eras.

Can Luka rate the same?

“I think that’s a reach now,” West says. “He could certainly be in the top five.

“Ask me that question in two years and we’ll see.”

Luka’s not as athletic as today’s greatest players. Neither was Larry Bird. Like Bird, Luka makes do.

“You wouldn’t say he’s the quickest guy,” West says, “but no one can stop him because he’s so clever. He can play fast; he can play slow. Let him get a little room and he’ll get there. And when he delivers a ball, it’s always in position for a guy to catch it and get his shot.

“He kinda makes it fun. Any night you see him play, you’re gonna see something special.”

After a continuous chant of J-J, Dallas Mavericks guard J.J. Barea (center) leapt up off the bench as if he was going into the game. Here he laughs with teammates Kristaps Porzingis (left) and Luka Doncic (right) after they were surprised by the fourth quarter move at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Wednesday, November 20, 2019.) (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News) (Tom Fox / Staff Photographer)

West likes the fact that it looks like Luka has such a good time while he’s playing. Oscar played with a sneer, he says. Russell Westbrook, too. Triple-doubles are hard work. Still, it doesn’t seem to put a dent in Luka’s joy. And when he makes a mistake, he’s the first to admit it. Pats his chest. My bad.

I tell him that Luka may look happy most of the time, but when the Mavs lose, he takes it hard. Doesn’t matter what numbers he puts up. He sits at his locker, chin on chest. West gets it. As a player, great as he was, he lost in the NBA Finals eight times. Won once. Chick Hearn, the long-time Lakers announcer, never saw anyone take losses harder. West would sit and stare. His first wife would try to console him, but he wouldn’t say a word. He’d pull up at the house, let her out, drive around by himself.

“When you’re really great,” West says, “it should hurt to lose. I can see that. He will learn to be smarter. He’ll learn the players he’s playing against and what it takes on any given night. Those players, they won’t bother him.

“He’ll learn what it takes. He’ll do it. He’s so damn good.”

He’s so good, he should have been the first pick of the draft, West says. A lot of people shook their heads over that. They knew Luka was good.

But this good? No one saw this coming.

West sees it now, and that’s not all he sees.

“Look at Dallas,” he says. “One player has transformed them into a playoff team. He will be the best player Dallas has ever had.

“I have great respect for Nowitzki, but Dirk is not him.”

Good enough for Jerry West. Good enough for me.

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