The trade that sent young superstar Luka Doncic from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers was so monumental that in its aftermath, it almost felt like the Dallas front office was coming up with justifications for the deal on the fly.
First, there was talk that leadership did not believe their star player would sign a supermax contract, and therefore wanted to deal him while they could still get something in return; but Doncic immediately shut that down. Then there was chatter that general manager Nico Harrison was concerned about Doncic's weight and work ethic; but when he arrived in Los Angeles, fans were quite confused with that claim, as well.
The whole saga was so head-scratching that, for a while, it was almost as if we were waiting for the other shoe to drop—conspiracy theories flourished attempting to explain why Dallas willingly traded a franchise cornerstone in the prime of his career. Two months later, no better answer has arisen—and it does seem like the trade simply stemmed from the team’s front office deciding that dealing Doncic was best for business.
Since then, it has been reported that such talk is serving as motivation for Doncic, who has since rallied to revitalize the Los Angeles Lakers alongside LeBron James (much to Mavs fans' chagrin). But speaking with the Los Angeles Times' Dan Woike, the guard provided perhaps his clearest rebuke of the narratives surrounding his Dallas exit yet.
In a piece published Wednesday, Woike writes that Doncic & Co. were "stunned by the trade and especially stung by Dallas’ rationale, reasons he believed were personal and questioned his character and work ethic. The notion that he doesn’t work hard, in particular, upset him."
But "they have no idea," Doncic said of the doubters. "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.”
The good news is Luka will have another chance to prove the Mavericks and Harrison wrong when he plays his first game back in Dallas on Wednesday night. He has already faced his old club in L.A., but playing back in Texas will be a new challenge. If he's still feeling disrespected, it's time to show up and show out. Triple-double loading?
More NBA on Sports Illustrated
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Luka Doncic Fires Back at 'Disrespectful' Narrative About His Work Ethic.
