The Dallas Mavericks made headlines this week when they fired general manager Nico Harrison, who was responsible for trading superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers last February.
The trade never made sense from the Mavericks’ perspective, and their fans were openly angry to the point where owner Patrick Dumont had to fire Harrison. Dallas fans were chanting “Fire Nico” at every home game.
After the trade, Harrison and the Mavericks leaked some reports about Doncic and his poor conditioning being the reason they decided to trade him. Luka has remained classy throughout a difficult situation for him though and that was again the case after Wednesday night’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder when he was asked about Harrison’s firing, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“Look, I mean, the city of Dallas, fans, players, they’re all have a special place in my heart. I thought I was gonna stay there forever. But I didn’t. So they’ll always be a special place for me, always I can call it home. But right now, I’m focused on the Lakers, trying to move on. But obviously, always gonna be part of me in there. Just trying to move on and focus on what we’re doing.”
Doncic was then asked if he can see himself returning to the Mavericks sometime down the road but maintained that his focus is on his current team:
“Right now I’m just focused on the Lakers. No further comments.”
Luka has made it clear that he loved his time in Dallas and never had any visions of leaving during his career. At this point though, he has moved on and is focused on competing for championships with the Lakers, who he signed a contract extension with this past summer.
NBA stars change teams all the time so it’s definitely possible that Doncic ends up back in Dallas one day. The 26-year-old is under contract in L.A. for three more seasons at the very least though, so that’s not a conversation even worth entertaining right now, especially considering Mavericks ownership also trashed him on his way out and they are still in place.
Mavericks owner apologized to fan in Luka Doncic Lakers jersey
At a recent Mavericks game, owner Patrick Dumont was approached by a young fan wearing a Luka Doncic Lakers jersey. In that conversation, Dumont apologized for trading Doncic and then proceeded to part ways with Nico Harrison the following morning.
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