The Wonder Boy: Luka Doncic and the Curse of Greatness

by Tim MacMahon

Overview

ESPN’s Tim MacMahon goes behind the scenes of Luka Dončić’s years with the Dallas Mavericks—before his trade to the Lakers stunned the basketball world—telling the story of a franchise’s quest to build a championship team around a prodigy.

In 2018, the Dallas Mavericks landed the most hyped prospect in basketball history—teenaged Luka Doncic. With The Wonder Boy, MacMahon takes us beyond the highlights to the madness that ensues as the Mavericks try to avoid blowing their golden opportunity. From the internal power struggles in owner Mark Cuban’s front office during the early years of Doncic’s career, to the new regime’s effort to earn Doncic’s loyalty and put the ruthless competitor in position to win, readers will learn never-before-reported details about the saga’s biggest moments, including: 

   ·The blockbuster deal for Kristaps Porzingis that blew up in the Mavs’ faces
   ·The divorces with coach Rick Carlisle and GM Donnie Nelson
   ·Jalen Brunson’s exit after a run to the Western Conference finals
   ·The new pairing with the mercurial Kyrie Irving
   ·The improbable journey to the 2024 Finals

As the clock ticks on the Mavs’ quest to win it all with their irreplaceable young star, The Wonder Boy pulls back the curtain on a dilemma every NBA team would love to have.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538740712
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	03/25/2025
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Tim MacMahon reports on the NBA for ESPN. A native of Dallas, he’s followed the Mavs for decades and currently covers the team.

Editorial Reviews

01/27/2025

This meticulous debut chronicle from ESPN reporter MacMahon charts the Dallas Mavericks’ quest to build a championship team around point guard Luka Dončić. Recognized as a basketball prodigy from an early age, Dončić joined Spain’s elite Real Madrid basketball team at age 16. The Dallas Mavericks took note, trading up two slots in the 2018 NBA draft to sign Dončić after the team tanked the previous season to ensure a high draft pick. The Mavericks’ attempts “to build around him for a couple of decades to come” were hindered by behind-the-scenes tensions, MacMahon suggests, describing how head coach Rick Carlisle’s insistence on complete control over play calling alienated Dončić, who enjoyed making daring and unpredictable moves. MacMahon portrays Dončić as a brash virtuoso whose ingenuity on the court is accompanied by penchants for talking trash and arguing with referees. The author sheds light on the complicated alchemy that goes into making a championship team, detailing how the Mavs traded point guard Dennis Smith Jr. to the New York Knicks in 2019 after determining Dončić was better suited to the position, and how power forward Kristaps Porziņģis, brought in later that year to complement Dončić, was also traded after his resentments about playing second fiddle to Dončić hampered the team’s performance. NBA fans will want to add this to their shelf. Agent: Daniel Greenberg, Levine Greenberg Rostan. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"From Doncic's childhood through the Mavericks run to the 2024 NBA Finals, MacMahon unearths fascinating new details about Doncic's unlikely path to Dallas and the challenges of building around a generational superstar. This is a true insider account—a must-have for any basketball fan."
 —Zach Lowe, NBA analyst and host of the “Lowe Post” podcast

“From on-the-ground reporting in Luka Dončić s native Slovenia, through one of the most prolific teenage careers the game has ever seen to the behind-the-scenes details of his fascinating climb to the NBA Finals with the Dallas Mavericks, Tim MacMahon has assembled the definitive volume of an already enriching basketball life. You don't know Luka until you've read this story.”
 —Brian Windhorst, New York Times bestselling author and host of The Hoop Collective

“In a league built on star power, Luka Dončić has established himself as a force — growing the game internationally but letting his game do the talking — until now. MacMahon gives fans an intimate look at Dončić and what makes a Wonder Boy tick.”
 —Malika Andrews, host of ESPN’s NBA Today and NBA Countdown

“The Wonder Boy is as dynamic and entertaining as Dončić on a fastbreak. Mesmerizing and meticulously reported, MacMahon illuminates the darker sides of the NBA in navigating the future of one of its brightest prodigies: the pressure and ever-ticking clock to succeed at all costs.”
 —Mirin Fader, New York Times bestselling author of Giannis and Dream

"Tim is so plugged into Dončić’s psyche and the Mavs organization throughout the book, exposing both the beauty and the chaotic ugliness that surrounds NBA superstars and their teams. It’s ripe with the kind of storytelling you dream of reading about a player who could dominate the league for the next decade, if not more."—Chris Herring, Senior Writer for ESPN, and New York Times bestselling author of Blood in the Garden The Flagrant History of the 1990s New York Knicks

"NBA fans will want to add this to their shelf."—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

2025-01-07
The rise of a basketball prodigy.

Dončić, the high-scoring Dallas Mavericks guard, has been performing under abundant scrutiny for half his life. He was 13 when he left home in Slovenia to play in Spain, and within five years, he was “the most accomplished European teen prospect ever,” writes MacMahon. The ESPN reporter capably captures Dončić’s precocious self-assurance. As an older player put it, Dončić “doesn’t feel pressure” when it’s time to take a big shot. Beginning his NBA career in 2018, when he was 19, Dončić delighted in taking 30-foot jumpers in “defiance” of his new coaches—“a source of great comedy” to his teammates. MacMahon focuses on the Mavericks’ efforts to acquire players to complement Dončić’s talents, lest he sign with another team when he becomes a free agent or demand a trade while still under contract. Such is “the reality of the modern-day NBA” in the “player-empowerment era,” MacMahon writes. Frequently awestruck by Dončić’s talents, MacMahon notes that he’s earned a reputation for failing to stay in shape and constantly whining about referees’ calls. As the narrative draws closer to the present, alas, MacMahon’s workmanlike accounts of relatively recent games—these rely heavily on stats and trivial accomplishments, like Dončić notching “the fourth ever 50-point performance” on Christmas—offer little that’ll be new to fans. And beyond some anecdotes about the birth of Dončić’s first child and his love of junk food and video games, readers won’t learn much about him away from the hardwood. MacMahon notes that Dončić, in his travels, has learned four languages, but the author is less interested in the intellectual agility that this implies than he is in recycling stale pre- and postgame bromides about the player’s desire to win.

A competent look at a hoop star loses steam in crunch time.

Kirkus Reviews