For 110 games between 2019 and 2022, Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis shared the floor as teammates on the Dallas Mavericks. It was a tandem that was supposed to lead the Mavericks back to the NBA Finals, where another notable European, German superstar Dirk Nowitzki, once had the defining moment of his career. But this dynamic duo — or dinamični duo in Doncic's native Slovenian — never managed to win a single postseason series with one another.
Now, just two years after the Mavericks shipped Kristaps Porzingis off to Washington for the uninspiring package of Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans, Luka Doncic and Porzingis will both be making their Finals debuts, only they'll be doing so as opponents.
The Mavericks, the unexpected winner of the Western Conference, come in as live underdogs thanks to not only Doncic, but Kyrie Irving, a 2023 trade deadline addition who has proven to be invaluable in Dallas. Meanwhile, despite not having Porzingis for the majority of their postseason run, the 64-win Boston Celtics are Eastern Conference champions, as practically the entire league expected them to be. And if Porzingis is able to return to Boston's lineup for the Finals, he should be expecting a very rude welcome in Dallas, according to former his Mavericks teammate Chandler Parsons.
So what exactly is the deal regarding the beef between Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis? Well, I say let's try to figure this out!
Mavericks teammates turned Finals opponents
To tell the story of the Luka Doncic/Kristaps Porzingis rivalry, you need to go back to 2017, when Doncic and Porzingis met in a highly-anticipated EuroBasket showdown that lived up to the hype. Porzingis scored 34 points, but the 18-year-old Doncic, still over a full year away from making his NBA debut, went for 27 points and led Slovenia to a 103-97 win. And just in case you were curious, Yes, even then, Luka Doncic was doing Luka Doncic things.
From there, Luka Doncic eventually made his way to the NBA and by his second year in the league, he was already an All-NBA performer. Porzingis, on the other hand, was in the midst of a career spiral. Nagging injuries and inconsistent play soured KP's tenure in New York, and due to a torn ACL, what was supposed to be Porzingis' fourth season in the NBA was lost. While rehabbing from that torn ACL, Porzingis was traded to Dallas, giving his career a second chance, and giving Luka Doncic a potential bonafide number two scoring option to work with.
In their short stint together as teammates for the Dallas Mavericks, there were constantly rumblings that the partnership was on the rocks, but it wasn't until after Porzingis had been traded to Washington that the two spoke more candidly about it.
During an appearance on the “Old Man and the Three” Podcast with JJ Redick, Porzingis answered honestly when asked if there was initially a tug-of-war between he and Doncic regarding who the Mavs number one option was going to be.
“Early on, for sure, but I think we both tried to make it work. I think communication and maturity on both our parts should have been better,” Porzingis said. He'd go on to elaborate even further about what caused the schism between he and Luka Doncic during their time as Mavericks teammates.
“It's a big mix of things. Maturity, for sure. Like again, I am talking [about] what I could have done better. And then, I was not that much into analytics and numbers. If somebody, I think, at that stage of my career presented it to me the right way and said, ‘This is what we need to do, this is what we need from you — you are going to be way more effective doing this.' Like kinda of explaining to me better. I think that would have made the difference a little bit.”
Based on what Porzingis said there, and based on some other statements he has made regarding his relationship with Luka Doncic, it sounds like the two are on good terms off the court. While still with the Wizards, Porzingis said in a post-game press conference, “We were super cool, we will always hang out and I would say that's the biggest misconception.”
Luka Doncic has said far less on the matter than his former Mavericks teammate, but you better believe that if Luka and Porzingis are sharing the floor together, Dallas' superstar will have plenty to say to his old teammate throughout the entire series.
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