Luka Dončić playing off-the-ball

Although he’s effective with it, he doesn’t strike me as a guy who NEEDS the ball to be effective.  He’s smart, knows how to move without it and is a good shooter from a standstill.  Sharing ball-handling duties would probably help his efficiency early on bc he won’t have to rely as much on shooting off the bounce, which is something he can do but isn’t that great at yet. Moving off the ball and spotting up would allow him to attack more and make plays off the catch so he wouldn’t have to supply the momentum himself.  Both of the latter 2 points would be ways he could address his ability to create seperation, which is something I think will come later down the line as he builds his rep as a respectable shooter.

 In short, yes. Not only can he survive but he should be able to thrive as an ideal secondary facilitator.

No matter what his primary position is, he’s got to become more consistent with that outside shot. It’s a liability right now. I agree with GBee in that his best case scenario is to land on a team that already has its PG of the future and Doncic could split facilitator duties with that PG. Atlanta and Dallas come to mind as ideal destinations. 

Seems like Euro guys always have a good sense of playing team ball so I don’t really think that will be a concern

 I feel he can play as well off ball as he would as a main ball carrier. He has a very advanced basketball IQ for his age which will make up for his lack of elite speed that some NBA guys posess, so he’ll know how to get himself into shooting positions etc.

He is a good ball handler but I don’t feel he needs to have the ball to be effective, it will give his coach some nice ball carrying options and with several good passers on a team, they can look for the best opening or have the ability to exchange quick passes which a team with only one elite ball handler may not be able to do.

If you are just watching highlight clips of him of course he is going to be making plays with the ball in his hands because that is all they are going to show. From the limited amount I’ve actually seen of him in actual game competition, I don’t think playing off the ball for stretches will be a problem. Growing up in Europe and playing against high level competition from a young age, I’m sure he has experience playing within an offensive system and not being the primary ball-handler at all times (probably more than a lot of American prospects). However, I do think he is definitely at his most effective with the ball in his hands. Will that be a problem if a team like Sacramento with fox being groomed as their pg of the future? Maybe. But I still think doncic is too good for them to pass up for that reason.