[MacMahon] Rick Carlisle on Luka: "I just sent him a message thanking him for three amazing years. I learned many things from him and I told him that I'm glad I'm only going to see him twice a year. I mean it in the most complimentary way, of course. I think he's the best young player in the world."

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I just sent him a message thanking him for three amazing years. I learned many things from him, and I told him that I'm glad I'm only going to see him twice a year. I mean it in the most complimentary way, of course. I think he's the best young player in the world. I think these three years set up as a major springboard for the next 10 for him. I expect him to be an NBA champion. I expect him to be a multiple MVP winner. I just have an amazing level of respect for his abilities and his grasp of the game. He's truly a once-in-the-generation type player.

I sat with Luka two years ago, and I told him that I was going to give him the ball, I was going to allow him to create, I was going to allow him to shape his career, to make mistakes, to make great plays, to go through winning, to go through losing, and that I felt that it was a very important part of who he was going to become as a player. He's taken that responsibility and trust, and he's turned it into a supermax career. But I believe he also understands that legacies are truly about championships. That was his history in Europe, and I predict that it will be his history in the NBA as well."