On February 1st, Luka Doncic was traded from the Dallas Mavericks to the LA Lakers. Doncic, a 25-year-old from Slovenia, is generally considered to be one of the greatest basketball players of his generation, and he backed up that hype during his years in Dallas. Mavericks fans LOVED Doncic and they were heartbroken when Mavs’ management traded Luka to the Lakers. This controversy has been playing out for the past month, the “why did the Mavs do this trade” and “what the hell were they thinking” and “poor Luka, he thought he was going to be in Dallas forever.” Luka is in the process of bouncing back from the trade though, and he seems to like his new environment in LA, and LeBron James has seemed a decade younger since Luka joined the team.

One of the weirdest parts of this story is that the Mavericks’ camp have launched a full-blown smear campaign against Luka as a way to justify the boneheaded trade of their biggest star. For weeks now, there has been a very loud “whisper campaign” coming from Dallas that Luka got traded because they were concerned about his conditioning, his weight and his off-court activities. This week, the New York Times reported this after the Lakers beat the Mavericks this week, Luka’s first time playing against his old team:

Nico Harrison heard the chants. Of course, he heard the chants. The Dallas Mavericks general manager, whose choice to trade Luka Dončić might go down as one of the biggest blunders in the history of the NBA, and who sat there in that dapper blue suit for all the Crypto.com Arena fans to see in the reunion game on Tuesday night, couldn’t avoid the sarcastic gratitude that was heaped upon him. “Thank you … Nico!” the Luka Nation bellowed several times during the Los Angeles Lakers’ 107-99 win.

Give Harrison credit for this much: The 52-year-old former Nike executive is, as you surely have heard by now, a man of great conviction. Once his vision is crystallized — no matter how uncomfortable it might be — he sees nothing else but the decisions that must be made to bring it to life. And in the case of Dončić, whose poor habits both on and off the court were at the crux of this controversial call, that meant parting ways with a player who most believe is on track to become one of the all-time greats for an older, injury-riddled big man in Anthony Davis, who was the centerpiece of their return.

Make no mistake, the people who witnessed Dončić’s last days in Dallas do not paint a flattering portrait of the 25-year-old’s professionalism. They call him lazy. They talk about the weight issues that were such a frequent frustration within their walls. They mention the social habits that The Athletic has reported on — such as a taste for beer and hookah — which have been a point of concern for NBA types since he was a 19-year-old star for Real Madrid who was entering the draft. They predict his basketball demise, highlighting a health history that, as some see it, will likely lead to catastrophe in the next five years or so.

[From The NY Times]

This is what I don’t get: why fat-shame or conditioning-shame Doncic if you’re the Dallas Mavericks? I can understand wanting to justify an especially bad trade, but these Dallas sources are the ones who look completely unprofessional in this situation, insulting a guy who took them to the finals and smearing him after they threw him out like he was three-day-old garbage. If you genuinely believe that Doncic’s conditioning is that big of a problem, why not sit back and smirk and say “the Lakers will see soon enough?” Instead, Doncic has been kicking ass in LA and from the looks of it, he’s dropped like twenty pounds in the past month.

The Dallas Mavericks reportedly had an issue with Luka Dončić smoking hookah and drinking beer, per @TheAthletic

“Make no mistake, the people who witnessed Dončić’s last days in Dallas do not paint a flattering portrait of the 25-year-old’s professionalism. They call him lazy.… pic.twitter.com/MgopdlCH2J

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) February 26, 2025

Luka Doncic now has the 7th most triple-doubles of all time — At 25 years old. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/sMdrmkUNpb

— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) February 26, 2025

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.