The Dallas Mavericks have been on a huge transition as of late to try and surround their young superstar Luka Doncic with enough talent and support. Moves in the front office have been done which sets up Dallas for a huge summer in terms of possibly filling up their roster with the right kind of talent that can complement their young franchise player.
Clearly, the organization is all-in with the 22-year-old phenom and their recent moves have proven this. After a heartbreaking exit in the first round of the 2021 NBA Playoffs, the franchise moved on from long-time tenured GM Donnie Nelson as well as NBA champion coach Rick Carlisle amid controversies regarding a ton of drama in the backroom involving Haralabos Voulgaris, the team's director of Quantitative Research and Development.
To try and replace these talented individuals, the Mark Cuban-owned franchise went with former point guard Jason Kidd to be the Mavs' new head coach and also hired former Nike executive Nico Harrison to be the team's new GM. These are good moves, right? But, recent reports have suggested that the Mavs might be tiptoeing around the problem rather than addressing it head-on.
According to ESPN's Brian Windhorst, it is indeed possible that the Mavs' biggest problem is actually the 22-year-old wonderboy.
“I don’t know how many people are going to be excited to play with Luka (Doncic). I think Luka is, maybe, a difficult person,” Windhorst said on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas (via Sportsnaut.com). “He’s a great player but when you watch the Mavericks play, he’s barking at the coach, he’s barking at his teammates, he’s barking at the officials. He’s always barking about something. He can really be an irritable guy.”
Doncic has been on an incredible upward trend as the Mavs' cornerstone. After being acquired in the loaded 2018 NBA Draft, the Slovenian has dazzled his way into becoming one of the most promising young stars in the entire league just three seasons in. From knocking down clutch shots to dishing out fancy passes, Doncic has made ‘Luka Magic' a household name in the NBA one play at a time. And by now, it's pretty apparent that Doncic will be the face of the league for the next generation.
Thing is, Doncic's flamboyance sometimes also gets the worst of him. He's been known to be up in arms when a call doesn't go his way and the young superstar has been in one too many dramatic situations involving him and his team. Doncic was reportedly not a fan of Voulgaris. He was also at the forefront of all the drama that surrounded his former GM and former head coach. And, we obviously can't ignore Luka's complicated relationship with teammate Kristaps Porzingis which has been grabbing headlines non-stop since their disappointing seven-game series against the Clippers. All these only further prove the point that the two-time All-Star has been at the center of all the drama.
Though we have to keep in mind that the 22-year-old is still relatively young, he's been a professional basketball player since he was 16. In terms of the NBA, Doncic's career is only just beginning and maturity doesn't come overnight. The adjustment from being part of a winning culture in Real Madrid in Spain to a rebuilding Mavs team has been hard as well. Hopefully, Cuban and the rest of his new-look front office make the right moves in moving the franchise forward with someone like Luka Doncic at the forefront.
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