Nico Harrison is once again the most talked-about man in Dallas, but unlike in February, when it was for tragic reasons, this time, D-Town is euphoric. He’s on his way out, much to Mavs fans’ elation. Trading Luka Doncic away is still believed to be one of the most catastrophic decisions in NBA history and the Mavs are paying for it. But, reporter Jorge Sedano recently revealed information that showed how it wasn’t just Harrison questioning Doncic.
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It’s easy to forget, but the Mavericks made it to the NBA Finals just over a year ago with Doncic as their cornerstone. Life was beautiful, and the fans were expecting to build on that as they chased their first NBA championship since 2011.
But behind the scenes, Sedano revealed that the organization was not happy with Doncic. It wasn’t about his playing style or his numbers in-game. It was more about his mindset.
The NBA insider revealed how he spoke to an executive who insisted that Doncic was not taking the loss to the Celtics all that seriously. “This person said to me, ‘You know, I was around Kobe when he lost to the Celtics, and I remember that when they were playing the song when the Celtics won the championship… Kobe would literally use that song in his workouts every day'”, Sedano stated.
This fueled Bryant and made him thirsty for revenge, and sure enough, the next two years (2009 and 2010), he led the Lakers to victory. Doncic? Wasn’t showing the same level of interest as Bryant did. And it caused concern behind the scenes.
“This person also said to me,” Sedano continued. “‘I was also around LeBron when he lost to Dallas [in 2011], and he went into a deep funk of reflection….”
James did not even leave his house for two weeks, and when he did, it was to get right back to the drawing board, meet with legends like Hakeem Olajuwon, who helped him improve his post game. Once again, Doncic seemingly did not show a similar level of dedication.
“‘We were hoping that would be the impetus to take Luka to the next level, and then he came back in the same shape, arguably in worse shape than he did in the prior season and that’s kind of when we knew that, hey, maybe this isn’t gonna work, and that’s when the conversations began…'”
Doncic’s fitness was a topic of discussion for months leading up to his departure from Texas, which no one saw coming. But Sedano’s revelation shows that there were discussions in the backroom about trading Doncic away.
In hindsight, however, everyone recognizes that Harrison (and whoever the other executives were) was wrong. The trade was a mistake, and owner Patrick Dumont has admitted as such. Doncic is loving life in Los Angeles, has gotten fitter over the summer, and is putting up MVP-esque numbers. The Lakers are 8-3 and look like real contenders.
Dallas meanwhile, are 3-8 and are second-last in the Conference standings.
