Luka Doncic’s friend makes ‘fat, drunk pig’ quip amid perceived Mavericks’ portrayal

Much has been said about the stunning trade that sent Luka Doncic from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers last February. Months after that transaction, which also saw superstar big man Anthony Davis land with the Mavs, it continues to generate buzz as people still try to make sense of it.

In the aftermath of the trade, the Mavericks appeared to hint that they essentially gave up on Doncic because they were concerned about his weight and conditioning, even though he had just led the team to an NBA Finals appearance in 2024.

Many have found that kind of reasoning confusing, including one of Doncic’s friends, who said, “You don’t perform like that … if you’re a fat, drunk pig,” per Tim MacMahon of ESPN.

During his final full season with the Mavericks, Doncic averaged 33.9 points — still a career-high — 9.2 rebounds and 9.8 assists per game while shooting 48.7 percent from the field and 38.2 percent from behind the arc. For his body of work that season, Doncic finished third in the NBA’s Most Valuable Player Award voting, just behind Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Whatever anxiety Doncic must have given general manager Nico Harrison when it comes to his health and weight, that still was not enough justification for many to view the trade as acceptable. But as noted as well by MacMahon, the attempt of Dallas’ director of player health and performance, Johann Bilsborough, to mitigate the friction between the general manager and the Slovenian supertar didn’t exactly go positively, as he “didn’t endear himself to Doncic’s camp.”

With Doncic gone, the Mavericks felt they still had a team that could compete for an NBA title in the 2024-25 NBA season with Davis providing the team with an elite defensive presence at the rim and on offense. But injuries to Davis and star point guard Kyrie Irving, among others, prevented the Mavericks from operating at an optimal level following Doncic’s departure. The Mavericks made it to the Play-in Tournament but failed to advance to the NBA Playoffs, finishing the season with just a 39-43 record.