Luka Doncic deserves kudos for playing second fiddle to Kyrie Irving

Luka Doncic has been the best player on every team he's been a part of, from little leagues in Slovenia to the pros in Europe and the United States. However, Doncic is starting to realize – much like the greats before him – that he needs to trust in his running mates to consistently win games at the highest level.

In 2016, LeBron James, for the first time in his career, was No. 2 on his team in shot attempts per game with 18.2 behind Kyrie Irving's19.7 attempts.

The result? A trip to the NBA Finals.

Although Doncic (23.7) is attempting more shots than Irving (19.6) this season, the latter has been given the green light to take over in the fourth quarter.

That's why Doncic attempts 5.1 shots in the fourth period compared to Irving's 5.3. Since the All-Star break, that disparity has grown wider, with Irvng attempting 5.7 to Doncic's 4.9.

Doncic's trust in Irving was on full display when his Mavs defeated the Sacramento Kings in a critical game Tuesday that could determine final playoff seedings. As is becoming the norm, Irving made two crucial threes in the fourth quarter to ice the game. He finished with 18 second-half points.

After the game, Doncic was asked to react to his coach Jason Kidd anointing him Superman and Irving Batman in his pre-game interview. The humble Doncic disagreed with his coach. 

"Nah, he's the Batman. I'm the Robin," Doncic said. "It's just amazing man, everything on our team is amazing. But just outside basketball, he's just a great person and we all get along so well. The chemistry is really good right now."