Report: Mavericks thought Luka Doncic ‘isolated himself from the rest of the team’ during rehab stints

According to NBA insider Marc Stein, the Dallas Mavericks thought Luka Doncic “isolated himself from the rest of the team” during his rehab stints.

Doncic suffered multiple injuries during his Mavericks career. 

“The Mavericks likewise asserted that Dončić, during his various rehab stints this season, isolated himself from the rest of the team,” Stein wrote. “They recoiled at the insistence that all of his rehab work would be administered by Luka’s own personal body team that he assembled after the 2022-23 season rather than Mavericks staffers. From the Dončić perspective, mind you, it was the Mavericks who had actually done the isolating.”

The Mavericks traded Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in February. 

Doncic appeared in 422 games with the Mavericks. He averaged 28.6 points, 8.7 rebounds and 8.3 assists and made five All-Star teams and five All-NBA teams.

Dallas lost to the Boston Celtics in the 2024 NBA Finals in five games. Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison, who targeted Anthony Davis in the Doncic trade, no longer wanted to build around Luka. 

“Back in June, Harrison publicly challenged the whole team, saying he wanted to see ‘everybody coming back 10-to-15% better’ — ‘And that’s mind, body and spirit,’ he said — in the wake of the Mavericks’ five-game Finals wipeout to Boston,” Stein wrote. “The message, it was widely presumed at the time, was aimed at Dončić as much as anyone. So it left Harrison seething when Dončić suffered the calf strain on Christmas … after a calf injury caused by a teammate’s unintentional kick in a pickup game on the day before Media Day on Sept. 29 had previously sidelined Dončić for the bulk of training camp.

“Four left calf injuries in a span of less than 2 1/2 years had convinced the Mavericks’ lead decision-maker that Dončić’s approach to diet, fitness and preparation was the culprit and that such injuries would keep happening. Or something worse. The challenge he had issued, in Harrison’s eyes, was not heeded and might never be.”

Doncic faces the Mavericks in Dallas tomorrow.