The rumors and comments about Luka Dončić’s conditioning that surfaced following the Mavericks’ stunning decision to send him to the Lakers in early February still don’t sit well with the superstar.
As Dončić prepares to make his Dallas return when the Mavericks host the Lakers on Wednesday, he told the Los Angeles Times that the criticism — which included a “beer and hookah” report, concerns about weight and other critiques of his laziness, The Athletic reported back in February — is both “disrespectful” and “sad.”
“They have no idea,” Doncic told the outlet. “… I didn’t end up here by mistake. You know? I worked my ass off to be here. So it’s kinda, I would say disrespectful, just sad that people say that.”
Dončić’s first 26 games with the Lakers have featured similar production to his final 22 with the Mavericks, as he has averaged 27.1 points, 8.1 rebounds and 7.6 assists per game.
When the Mavericks faced the Lakers for the first time since the deal on Feb. 25, Dončić finished with a triple-double and sparked a Los Angeles victory.
The Lakers currently sit third in the Western Conference, too, and have emerged as a legitimate title contender with Dončić and LeBron James now paired together.
But at the time of the deal, when Dallas acquired a package headlined by Anthony Davis in exchange for the cornerstone who’d just led the franchise to the NBA Finals the previous season, Dončić faced plenty of rumors about what went wrong to prompt Mavericks and general manager Nico Harrison to make such a seismic move.
Conditioning and laziness emerged as two of the most common threads.
Dallas’ decision to part with Dončić, though, didn’t resonate well with fans, who protested outside the Mavericks’ arena following the trade and before their first home game without Dončić.
There were “fire Nico” chants, and when the Mavericks faced the Lakers in Los Angeles, there were “thank you Nico” shouts from opposing fans, according to The Athletic.
For Dončić, arriving in Los Angeles meant he needed to face everything that surfaced about why Dallas got rid of him in the first place.
And even if more than two months have passed since the deal, it doesn’t mean the lack of respect has faded from his mind.