The NBA regular season is in its final week as many teams continue to fight for playoff positioning ahead of the postseason.
One game that has major playoff implications is Wednesday’s matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks as both teams continue to fight for a higher seed in the playoffs.
While there are massive playoff implications in Wednesday’s game, the headliner for the matchup is Luka Doncic facing his old team in Dallas for the first time at the American Airlines Center since he was traded to the Lakers at the deadline.
Of course, the trade at the deadline shocked the NBA world when the Lakers and Mavericks swapped Doncic and Anthony Davis.
Ahead of Wednesday’s game, Doncic and Gatorade combined to send a shot at his former team’s general manager Nico Harrison.
Luka takes shot at Nico Harrison in new Gatorade ad, wearing “Traitor” towel. pic.twitter.com/I23Jp0pF23
— NBACentel (@TheNBACentel) April 9, 2025
In the Gatorade advertisement, it features Doncic sitting in a chair dribbling a ball before standing and walking away with the words “no love lost, only sweat” across the screen.
While this is a clear shot at the Mavericks, some fans have pointed out a different hidden message in the video that has to do with the Gatorade towel around Doncic’s neck.
On the towel, the normal Gatorade words are folded a specific way to spell out “traitor”, which is a clear shot at the Mavericks and Harrison for trading away Doncic and then talking bad about him.
Of course, Doncic’s exit from Dallas was a massive surprise to everyone around the league including Doncic himself, but what was more of a surprise was when Harrison told the media they traded Doncic due to concerns about his conditioning and work ethic.
Because of this, Doncic has decided to partner with Gatorade to send a clear shot at Harrison and Mavericks organization off the court while he will look to send a message to his former team on the court against them on Wednesday night.
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