LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 10: LeBron James #23 and Luka Doncic #77 of the Los Angeles Lakers talk during the third quarter of a game against the Utah Jazz at Crypto.com Arena on February 10, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
The strain between Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks is not disappearing anytime soon.
Tuesday night’s Los Angeles Lakers 107-99 win over Dallas had a notable spectator – Mavericks’ general manager Nico Harrison – just as more troubling reports emerged about Doncic.
According to The Athletic, “the people who witnessed Doncic’s last days in Dallas do not paint a flattering portrait of the 25-year-old’s professionalism.”
Included in the concerns were Doncic’s “taste for beer and hookah,” leading to fears that his health might result in a premature end to his career.
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Seen celebrating a win that led Dallas to the NBA Finals last season, Doncic was drinking a beer when Mavericks’ executive Michael Finley took it out of his hands. Other videos emerged of Doncic smoking hookah, which LeBron James had joked about long before they were teammates.
Harrison, who facilitated the deal that swapped Doncic for Anthony Davis, had reportedly grown increasingly frustrated with Doncic’s conditioning and personal habits outside of basketball.
While Doncic shot three free throws in the second quarter, Lakers fans chanted, “Thank you Nico” with the TNT broadcast showing Harrison doing his best to ignore the heckling.
The Lakers’ fans weren’t the first to heckle the general manager.
Harrison faced taunts at an SMU basketball game on Feb. 12, while Mavericks fans were ejected from home games for chanting “Fire Nico” and displaying signs.
On Tuesday’s Hoops Collective Podcast, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon shared that Harrison typically sits courtside but has not done so at the American Airlines Center since the trade.
“I didn’t see him in warmups,” Doncic said about Harrison, even though the general manager was seated on the scorer’s table, watching his pregame warmup.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported that Doncic and the Mavericks front office did not have any direct interaction.
Doncic finished the game with 19 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assists.
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