The Wonder Boy

Luka Doncic and the Curse of Greatness

By: Tim MacMahon

Narrated by: Tim MacMahon, Charles Constant

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 European teen prospect in basketball history—Luka Doncic, who has proven to be a generational NBA talent with a flair for sensational playmaking. But that’s only half the story. 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.

©2024 Tim MacMahon (P)2024 Twelve

Critic reviews

"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

Disappointing

Look, I will be honest, I wasn’t expecting much. I’ve never really understood why Tim McMahon is employed in sports analysis, but I figured if he’s taking the time to write a book on Luka Dončić, it’s going to be worth my time. I was very wrong. I was hoping this would offer more insight into his childhood and Euroleague career, but it’s basically just a rehash of boring transactions any casual fan would know everything about already. Finally, the narrator doesn’t even pronounce names like Rajon Rondo correctly… lol. Very amateur

Love Tim McMahon, but much prefer his work on Hoop Collective

I thought the book had some good moments, and no one knows Luka as well as TM, Thought the book though was somewhat workmanlike in many parts - reciting game details and elements from previous work as opposed to breaking much new ground. Of course the most glaring issue with the book is the massive twist in the Luka story that I was shocked did not get any coverage whatsoever in the book. McMahon did a good job covering the story for ESPN, but given the complicated dynamics of the trade and the author’s good access and great perspective, I would’ve much preferred they delayed the release of the book to apply at least an epilogue of reasonable size and detail for such a fascinating element of the story. Also agree with other reviewers that it would’ve been vastly preferable to have Tim McMahon read his own work directly in his fun and often very funny style and drawl. Lastly, it is amazing to listen to this book and all the great things that the Mavs’ GM Nico Harrison said about Luka less than nine months before foolishly trading him. Good work Tim - hope your next book is even better.

No discussion of the trade to the Lakers, which was all I wanted to hear about

No discussion of Lakers trade which was all I wanted to hear about they should’ve had a disclaimer about that before you download it

Exceptional attention to detail both on and off the court.

What captivated me about this book was its detailed unraveling of the Mavericks organization’s journey, both on and off the court. The author expertly weaves the timeline together, using creative storytelling techniques that really bring the events to life.

Nothing new + last chapter missing

The author did not get a chance to talk to Luka or anyone remotely close to Luka, because no one from that group wanted to talk to him. So in turn he is basically chronologically listing what has happened in games and who said what in interviews. Very little new info- questionable whether it really happened because again - as always - the author turns to unnamed sources. The focus of the book is more on how dysfunctional the Mavs org actually was than Luka. Book is right now missing the last chapter that was written after the trade. Audiable, hallo?!

Insightful and Engaging

As a former Mavs fan it was a tough read emotionally, but it was very insightful as to how we got here. Thankful to be able to relive the good times through the storytelling. I’ll read it again in the future.

DOESN'T INCLUDE TRADE

I bought the book specifically for the last chapter, added after the trade, which the book doesn't include. The narrator mispronounces Gobert and a few other names, which seems like lazy production, but I feel cheated by the lack of inclusion of the final chapter.

Please pick better narrators

I love Tim MacMahon. I think his insights are fantastic and he understands how to plant the seeds of a story with small details that lead to incredible importance later on. The intro (in his own voice) discussing the draft and all of the players and executives that will have significant meaning later on is expertly done. And he has a great voice that would work for this audiobook (I’m sure Bontemps would make a joke about a look for radio, but I would never).

All that said, this narrator is offensive. Why didn’t MacMahon narrate this himself? Here are some mispronunciations over the first few chapters:
-Celtics with a hard C
-Rudy Gobert that rhymes with Dilbert
-Deron Williams like this narrator assumes black names have to be pronounced with extra emphasis
-I don’t know how the f to describe what he does with Haralabos Voulgaris

I can’t listen to this garbage anymore. But to support MacMahon, Im going to buy a hardcopy because I very much appreciate the work

Poorly done.

They should’ve stuck with Windhorst. Multiple errors that should’ve been caught during editing. Very little information that wasn’t already widely known.

Fascinating subject, bad book

This book offers no insight into the internal workings of Doncic and fails to fashion a compelling narrative through-line of the life of a compelling person. McMahon is just a bad and boring writer. The book reads like an endless string of reheated espn.com articles. Instead of voice, the it offers a chorus of front office talking points. Doncic deserves better.