The rumors and feedback about Luka Dončić’s conditioning that surfaced following the Mavericks’ beautiful resolution to ship him to the Lakers in early February nonetheless don’t sit effectively with the famous person.
As Dončić prepares to make his Dallas return when the Mavericks host the Lakers on Wednesday, he informed the Los Angeles Instances that the criticism — which included a “beer and hookah” report, issues about weight and different critiques of his laziness, The Athletic reported again in February — is each “disrespectful” and “sad.”
“They have no idea,” Doncic informed 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 video games with the Lakers have featured comparable manufacturing to his remaining 22 with the Mavericks, as he has averaged 27.1 factors, 8.1 rebounds and seven.6 assists per recreation.
When the Mavericks confronted the Lakers for the primary time because the deal on Feb. 25, Dončić completed with a triple-double and sparked a Los Angeles victory.
The Lakers presently sit third within the Western Convention, too, and have emerged as a official title contender with Dončić and LeBron James now paired collectively.
However on the time of the deal, when Dallas acquired a package deal headlined by Anthony Davis in alternate for the cornerstone who’d simply led the franchise to the NBA Finals the earlier season, Dončić confronted loads of rumors about what went fallacious to immediate Mavericks and common supervisor Nico Harrison to make such a seismic transfer.
Conditioning and laziness emerged as two of the most typical threads.
Dallas’ resolution to half with Dončić, although, didn’t resonate effectively with followers, who protested exterior the Mavericks’ area following the commerce and earlier than their first house recreation with out Dončić.
There have been “fire Nico” chants, and when the Mavericks confronted the Lakers in Los Angeles, there have been “thank you Nico” shouts from opposing followers, in keeping with The Athletic.
For Dončić, arriving in Los Angeles meant he wanted to face every little thing that surfaced about why Dallas removed him within the first place.
And even when greater than two months have handed because the deal, it doesn’t imply the shortage of respect has light from his thoughts.
