A new story about a Dallas Mavericks practice this season shows Luka Doncic definitely has a bit of Michael Jordan in him if you make him angry.
Heading into the weekend, the Mavericks are in a fight to avoid an NBA-Play-in Tournament game since they reside in the eighth spot of the latest NBA standings. While that’s not the position Dallas would like to be in at this point in the season, it is not from a lack of effort from Luka Doncic.
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The five-time All-Star has been an MVP candidate over the last few seasons but this year seems like the season where the six-year veteran gets the league’s top honor as he has dominated in the second half and leads the NBA in points per game (34.3). However, his level of dominance isn’t just in regular season games but he apparently can take it up a notch in practice when he wants to.
During an appearance on 105.3 FAN in Dallas this week, assistant general manager Michael Finley spilled the beans on an interesting story where recently traded forward Grant Williams got under Doncic’s skin and he made his teammates pay during a practice scrimmage.
- Luka Doncic stats (2023-24): 34.3 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 9.8 APG, 1.4 SPG, 38% 3PT
- Luka Doncic contract: 5 years, $215 million
“One day in practice, a player or teammate, I won’t call his name out, but it was Grant Williams. He decided he wanted to get under Luka’s skin. He felt that Luka didn’t come that day ready to practice. To make a long story short, they had a scrimmage going, he’s talking trash to Luka up and down the court. So finally, Luka says, ‘Okay.’
“And I tell you, Luka went on a 26-6 run by himself. You can ask anyone, I’m not exaggerating. He showed everything. The threes, the post up, the floaters, everything, by himself. Everybody on the sidelines, including the coach was like, ‘Don’t poke the bear.’ And we had guests in the gym at the time, ooing and ahing.”
– Michael Finley
There are many legendary stories about Michael Jordan getting pushed by teammates and even opponents during games and setting fire to his enemies soon after. For those who may still question the inner fortitude of Luka Doncic, this story shows if you push him you may regret the results. And that he has the heart of a lion, similar to other greats of the sport like his Airness.
This instance was probably one of many where Williams reportedly rubbed Dallas Mavericks teammates the wrong way and led to him being traded before this year’s trade deadline.
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