I don't think what Luka does in this year's playoffs is going to change my opinion of him. If he really struggles it's probably going to be because his teammates aren't pulling their weight and keeping the attention of the defense. I don't expect him to struggle though.
On a related note, James Harden is has done plenty of playoff choking and he's still looked at as a top 5 player and the best offensive machine in the league.
I don't know if I consider losing to the Warriors every year to really be choking in the playoffs, and some years being the only team that challenged them.
For Luka, he's clearly a talent, but seeing him the playoffs will really help establish where he ranks among the current crop of best NBA players.
His current stats of 29/10/9 with 54% eFG%/59% TS% is the bar I'll be holding him up to.
If he puts up a weaker (for him) 24/7/5 and his shooting % drop significantly and the Mavs get swept in 4, I might think, "ok, he's not quite Top 5 yet, definitely not Top 2, still has some developing to do."
If he wins a round or two, while putting up 34/12/8, I'll know he's already arrived. Or even if he just carries the Mavs to a great 6-7 game series but loses. Did they just get matched up against a clearly better team? Did the opposing team game plan to successfully limit Luka's effectiveness? Did Luka do all he could but his teammates just weren't good enough? There's a lot of ways this can play out.
In the last couple of pages, I've seen nobody disrespect Luka. But some posters seem to get offended that we haven't yet anointed him the best player in the NBA. I've seen nobody deny his talent or say he won't be great or that he won't be even better in a few years. It's not some huge slight to think he's only the 5th-10th best NBA player currently and not 1 or 2.
For me, how he does in the playoffs this year will say a lot about where he is
currently, whether that's #2, #5, #10 best player in the NBA. None of those rankings is disrespect. None of those mean he won't get better. None of those means he won't be an all time great. Believe it or not, even MJ and LeBron weren't the 2nd best player in the league their 2nd year in the league.
Not sure why it's so offensive to be looking forward to seeing how Luka performing in the playoffs.