Even though the Mavericks had won their first two games of the post Luka Doncic era, they lost last night’s home game against the Kings and fans went into a frenzy, resulting in many ejections after violations to the NBA’s code of conduct. So, yes, you could say that the departure of their main superstar is still raw.
During the second half of Dallas‘ 129-128 loss to Sacramento, many fans were discharged from the American Airlines Center. Each moment of silence prompted boos from the stands, most of them showing their fury towards the Dumont family, whose family bought the majority stakes from Mark Cuban almost two years ago.
Two fans were holding a large poster board sign that read, “Fire Nico” as a clear reference to the Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison. On the arena video, one of them was seeing mouthing “fire Nico,” early in the match before the camera changed to another section of the crowd.
“In the first incident, the guest brought in a sign that broke the following rule included in the NBA Code of Conduct: Clothing, garments or signs displaying explicit language, profanity or derogatory characterization towards any person(s),” shared Dallas vice president of corporate communications Erin Finegold.
The two men who were ejected late in Monday’s match, were both wearing Luka’s Slovenian national team jersey, and were discharged after entering a shouting match with Cuban, who was sitting by his team’s bench.
“Shut the f— up and sit the f— down!” Cuban yelled back at them, according to footage showed by a fan. The billionaire told ESPN that the fans, whose seats were about 20 rows behind him, were shouting, “Fire Nico!” while the Mavericks were shooting free throws.
“In the second incident, the fan wore a T-shirt that also broke the rule [cited] and was also intoxicated, disruptive and uncooperative, all listed in the NBA Fan Code of Conduct,” Finegold told reporters as part of the club’s official statement.
