Mavericks governor put on blast for Shaq reference in Luka Doncic criticism

Yesterday at 10:14 PM

The Dallas Mavericks continue to catch a ton of flak for their decision to trade Luka Doncic away to the Los Angeles Lakers, and the comments from team governor Patrick Dumont surely aren’t helping in any capacity. But in a remark that further exposed just how seemingly out of his depth Dumont is, the Mavericks governor, in an interview with Dallas Morning News, called out Doncic’s work ethic (or lack thereof) and specified Shaquille O’Neal, of all people, as someone “who worked really hard, every day, with a singular focus to win” unlike Doncic

Shaq may be one of the best players in the history of the association, but he was never known for his legendary work ethic. In fact, one of the struggles of O’Neal’s career was that he would show up to training camp overweight and play his way into shape. It didn’t take long for fans on social media to call out the Mavericks governor for his statement which shows how ridiculous the lengths they would go to just to justify their decision to trade Doncic away.

“What Mavs did to Luka is one of the nastiest smear jobs in the history of sports. They’re trashing a 25 year old who took 2 completely different Mavs rosters to WCF and finals in the span of 3 years. Absolutely nasty! Did this a-hole really say Luka doesn’t work as hard as Shaq?!” @MatejSportinfo wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“Dude called Shaq hard working Then says to be competitive you need to be hardworking, which was a shot at Luka – Luka literally led the Mavs to the FINALS this year Like does he even like the NBA? Know it’s history?” @OzHouston wondered.

“Idiot mentioned Shaq and work ethic. Has no idea what he's talking about. Also the same "fat" Luka that carried us to the finals. Hurt and bleeding from his knees game after game,” @Bennett18Trevor furthered.

Tensions surrounding Mavericks organization are running high

The Mavericks fanbase is understandably very upset that they traded Luka Doncic away when the Slovenian superstar had no intentions of leaving the team. Doncic is only 25 years of age, and yet, in the name of being proactive, they decided to trade him for an older superstar in Anthony Davis under the guise of prioritizing defense and work ethic.

This was a move that the Mavericks did not have to make. But it speaks volumes to how lowly they viewed Doncic that they decided to risk the wrath of their fans just to trade him away.

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