Getty Bojan Bogdanovic of the Detroit Pistons and Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks.
Luka Doncic has been doing everything for the Dallas Mavericks this season. That was once again the case in the Mavericks’ closely-contested win over the Detroit Pistons on January 30. He exchanged some words with the Pistons bench throughout the game, and after the contest, Detroit coach Dwayne Casey spoke about Doncic’s trash talk.
“It’s a bunch of nothing, a bunch of nothing; We’ve seen worse,” Casey said via Jeremy Layton of the New York Post. “Remember I coached Gary Payton and Kevin Garnett, so that tonight was zero as far as chirping. I liked it. I thought it really got us going, and that’s the way it should be with competitive guys. Doncic is competitive as heck. I love the way he plays, the way he carries himself, and I love the way our guys responded. They weren’t intimidated. So it’s all good. It was clean, nothing dirty about it. It’s good if that’s what he needs to get himself going and tell himself. But he doesn’t need any help. He’s a great player without all the other stuff, but it is what it is.”
As for Doncic’s side of things, he caught up with Bally Sports Southwest after the game, explaining what happened.
“It was their assistant coach. He started chirping in the first quarter,” Doncic said. “They didn’t like when I chirped back. They said, ‘Play basketball.’ If they’re going to chirp at me, I’m going to chirp back. I ain’t scared.”
The Mavericks star put up a ridiculous 53 points – the most scored in a non-overtime game in franchise history. Meanwhile, only one other player on the team (Spencer Dinwiddie, 12 points) scored in the double digits. Doncic also added eight points and five rebounds to his totals, shooting 17-of-24 from the field and 5-of-11 from behind the three-point line.
Deandre Ayton Linked as Potential Mavs Target
As the Mavericks potentially look to acquire more talent to help Doncic, they could look to go after a big man. During an appearance on ESPN Zach Lowe’s podcast, The Lowe Post, Tim MacMahon of ESPN said that they’ve been connected to Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton.
“Well, Deandre Ayton is certainly interesting, and he can veto any trade this year because he signed that extension,” MacMahon said. “I don’t know that there’s a very long list of places that he would veto. I think that it’s reasonable to assume, based on the way things played out this summer, some of the comments he made, that he might not see Phoenix as his long-term home. And certainly, he wanted to go to [the] Indiana [Pacers]. So, whether that happens now or not, I don’t know. It is interesting. He’s a name that I’ve heard around the Mavericks. And again, I think that would have to be a later than right now type of situation.”
Mavericks Mentioned as Potential Fred VanVleet Suitor
In addition, as the Toronto Raptors continue to figure out their trade deadline plans, the Mavericks are one of the many teams who have been connected to a potential trade to point guard Fred VanVleet, per Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report,
“Either the Raptors and VanVleet will extend their marriage, or the team will look to get value for him in a trade before the deadline,” Pincus wrote. “If it’s the latter, several playoff contenders (at least teams that consider themselves playoff contenders) would have interest, such as the Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Dallas Mavericks, Phoenix Suns and Washington Wizards. So, too, would the Orlando Magic, per multiple NBA sources.”
