Sad News: Dallas Mavericks Star Luka Doncic Is Gone….
According to Dallas Mavericks assistant general manager Michael Finley, Luka Doncic went on a 26-6 run by himself during a scrimmage after Grant Williams kept talking trash to the NBA star.
Doncic and Williams have the same agent, Bill Duffy. The Mavericks acquired Williams from the Boston Celtics last offseason via a sign-and-trade deal.
Williams appeared in only 47 games with the Mavericks before getting traded to the Charlotte Hornets.
“I remember, just to share a quick story with you guys, one day in practice, a player on our team, I won’t call his name out, but it’s Grant Williams, he decided he wanted to get under Luka’s skin,” Finley said on 105.3 The Fan. “He felt Luka didn’t come that day ready to practice. To make a long story short, they had a scrimmage going and he was talking trash to Luka up and down the court. So finally, Luka says okay and Luka went on a 26-6 run by himself. You can ask anybody, I’m not exaggerating. He showed everything. The 3s, the post-ups, the floaters, everything by himself.”
The Mavericks were determined to move Williams at the NBA trade deadline, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN. Williams wasn’t in good shape in Dallas and rubbed people the wrong way.
“Everybody on the sidelines, including the coaches, said do not poke the bear,” Finley said. “That’s what everybody kept saying, do not poke the bear. We had guests in the gym at the time and they were on the sidelines oohing and ahhing. It was unbelievable. I was over there and the kid couldn’t miss. I’m not talking easy shots. He was showing the whole repertoire in this five or six-minute span. It was a 26-6 run by himself.”
Williams averaged 8.1 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists with the Mavericks before getting traded to the Hornets while shooting 41.3% from the field, 37.6% from beyond the arc and 74.5% from the free-throw line.
The Mavericks traded Williams and Seth Curry to the Hornets for PJ Washington.
The Hornets and Mavericks play each other on April 9 at the Spectrum Center in North Carolina. It will be intriguing to see how Williams is greeted by his former teammates.
Doncic made more history by passing Jason Terry for the second-most 3-pointers made in Mavericks history. Doncic has made 1,143 3s, and now he only trails Dirk Nowitzki, who made 1,982 in his career. With Doncic’s play this season and of late, Mavs head coach Jason Kidd praised the Slovenian star’s ability to play the game in a way that separates him from
“He plays to win and so we keep stats and all that good stuff, but he’s just one that will fill up the stat sheet,” Kidd said. “His ability to score, pass, and help rebound — he just plays the game. I think he finds himself in a different air.” The only negative to Doncic’s performance was his record-setting nine straight 30-point triple-double got snapped against the Bulls. With the game well under control with Dallas entering the fourth quarter up by 34 points, Doncic and the rest of the starters were pulled with 6:09 left in the game. While Kidd said he pondered keeping Doncic in the game to extend his NBA-best streak of 30-point triple-doubles, respecting the game and protecting his best player ultimately led to his decision to pull him.
