NEW YORK — Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle was in the midst of an interview session when the topic switched to the usage rate of point guard Luka Doncic.
Entering Thursday’s game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, Doncic was seventh in the NBA in usage rate at 34.2 percent. In other words, he has the ball in his hands a lot, which is perfectly fine with Carlisle.
“Would you want the ball out of his hands,” Carlisle rhetorically asked a reporter. “When it’s necessary we’ll alleviate some of the usage.
“But frankly, why would we want to do that?