Luka Doncic trade: Reporter reveals Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd's frustration with the NBA star was "quite high"
Luka Doncic's trade to the
Los Angeles Lakers
has been delivering results for his new team since day one. He scored 31 points in his first-ever playoff game for the Lakers and became the third player from the team to score more than 30 points in each playoff game.
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However, his fans are still wondering what led the Dallas Mavericks—who couldn't even reach the playoffs—to let go of such a talent. A new report has revealed that Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd was frustrated with Doncic, and there appear to have been issues with Doncic's behavior.
Luka Doncic had frustrated Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd?
ESPN's Tim MacMahon revealed on the YouTube show, The Right Time with Bomani Jones, that coach Jason Kidd was frustrated with Luka Doncic.
"The level of frustration that Nico had [with Luka] at the time was high. By the way, J-Kidd's was too. I think J-Kidd's tried to distance himself from it, but J-Kidd's frustration with Luka was also quite high," he said.
MacMahon also revealed that a front office staff member had complained about Doncic's behavior and said that if he didn't improve, they would trade him away. "I was told at the time — obviously, it was off the record, but they traded him now so I'll say it — 'Hey, if we got to trade him, we'll trade his ass,' and I was like 'No you won't.
You ain't blowing that house down. Give me a break.'… And then six weeks later, my phone dings," he added.
Doncic is currently averaging 34.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 5.0 assists—and there's surely more to come. So far, reports have indicated that it was
Dallas Mavericks
GM Nico Harrison who didn't want Doncic on the team. He was exchanged for Anthony Davis.
Also Read:
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Harrison faced massive backlash over Doncic's trade, but this hasn't shaken his decision-making.
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He told reporters, "There's no regrets on the trade. Part of my job is to do the best thing for the Mavericks, not only today but also in the future, and some of the decisions I'm going to make are going to be unpopular, and that's my job. I have to stand by it."
The Los Angeles Lakers are currently doing well in the playoffs. They are the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.
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Hindustan Times
30 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
US Open '25: Decades ago under dark of night, Oakmont began removing trees and started a golf trend
Last month, Scottie Scheffler made mention of a trend in golf design that rubs him wrong — removing trees from courses. This week, the world's best player and favorite to win the U.S. Open will play a course that did just that, but didn't become one bit easier the way some layouts do when the trees go away. Under the dark of night three decades ago, the people in charge of Oakmont Country Club started cutting down trees. They didn't stop until some 15,000 had been removed. The project reimagined one of America's foremost golf cathedrals and started a trend of tree cutting that continues to this day. While playing a round on YouTube with influencer Grant Horvat, Scheffler argued that modern pro golf — at least at most stops on the PGA Tour — has devolved into a monotonous cycle of 'bomb and gouge': Hit drive as far as possible, then gouge the ball out of the rough from a shorter distance if the tee shot is off line. 'They take out all the trees and they make the greens bigger and they typically make the fairways a little bigger, as well,' Scheffler said. 'And so, the only barrier to guys just trying to hit it as far as they want to or need to, it's trees.' Scheffler and the rest in the 156-man field that tees off Thursday should be so lucky. While the latest Oakmont renovation, in 2023, did make greens bigger, fairways are never wide at the U.S. Open and they won't be this week. Tree-lined or not, Oakmont has a reputation as possibly the toughest of all the U.S. Open courses, which helps explain why it is embarking on its record 10th time hosting it. In the two Opens held there since the tree-removal project was completed, the deep bunkers, serpentine drainage ditches and lightning-fast greens have produced winning scores of 5-over par and 4 under . In an ironic twist that eventually led to where we are today, the layout was completely lined with trees in 1973 when Johnny Miller shot 63 on Sunday to win the U.S. Open. That record stood for 50 years, and the USGA followed up with a course setup so tough in 1974 that it became known as 'The Massacre at Winged Foot' won by Hale Irwin with a score of 7-over par. 'Everybody was telling me it was my fault,' Miller said in a look back at the '74 Open with Golf Digest. 'It was like a backhanded compliment. The USGA denied it, but years later, it started leaking out that it was in response to what I did at Oakmont. Oakmont was supposed to be the hardest course in America.' It might still be. In a precursor to what could come this week, Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott played practice rounds last Monday in which McIlroy said he made a 7 on the par-4 second and Scott said he hit every fairway on the front nine and still shot 3 over. While Oakmont leaned into tree removal, there are others who aren't as enthused. Jack Nicklaus, who added trees to the 13th hole at Muirfield Village after seeing players fly a fairway bunker on the left for a clear look at the green, said he's OK with tree removal 'if they take them down for a reason.' 'Why take a beautiful, gorgeous tree down?' he said. 'Like Oakmont, for example. What's the name of it? Oak. Mont. What's that mean? Oaks on a mountain, sort of. And then they take them all down. I don't like it.' A lot of Oakmont's members weren't fans, either, which is why this project began under dark of night. The golf course in the 1990s was barely recognizable when set against pictures taken shortly after it opened in 1903. Architect Henry Fownes had set out to build a links-style course. Dampening the noise and view of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which bisects the layout, was one reason thousands of trees were planted in the 1960s and '70s. 'We were finding that those little trees had all grown up and they were now hanging over some bunkers,' R. Banks-Smith, the chairman of Oakmont's grounds committee when the project began, said in a 2007 interview. 'And once you put a tree on either side of a bunker, you lose your bunker. So, you have to make a decision. Do you want bunkers or do you want trees?' Oakmont went with bunkers – its renowned Church Pew Bunker between the third and fourth fairways might be the most famous in the world – and thus began a tree project that divides people as much today as it did when it started. 'I'm not always the biggest fan of mass tree removal,' Scott said. 'I feel a lot of courses that aren't links courses get framed nicely with trees, not like you're opening it up to go play way over there.' Too many trees, though, can pose risks. Overgrown tree roots and too much shade provide competition for the tender grasses beneath. They hog up oxygen and sunlight and make the turf hard to maintain. They overhang fairways and bunkers and turn some shots envisioned by course architects into something completely different. They also can be downright dangerous. In 2023 during the second round of the Masters, strong winds toppled three towering pine trees on the 17th hole, luckily missing fans who were there watching the action. 'There are lots of benefits that trees provide, but only in the right place,' said John Fech, the certified arborist at University of Nebraska who consults with the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. When Oakmont decided they didn't want them at all, many great courses followed. Winged Foot, Medinah, Baltusrol and Merion are among those that have undergone removal programs. Five years ago, Bryson DeChambeau overpowered Winged Foot, which had removed about 300 trees, simply by hitting the ball as far as he could, then taking his chances from the rough. It's the sort of golf Scheffler seems to be growing tired of: 'When you host a championship tournament, if there's no trees, you just hit it wherever you want, because if I miss a fairway by 10 yards, I'm in the thick rough if I miss by 20, I'm in the crowd," Scheffler told Horvat. How well that critique applies to Oakmont will be seen this week. Golf Writer Doug Ferguson contributed. golf: /hub/golf
The Print
3 hours ago
- The Print
Alcaraz's French Open win against Sinner proves that rivals bring out the best in us
Like his mentor Nadal, Alcaraz knows that this is what winning the French Open is really about. You can be down two sets, then 3-5 in the fourth and facing three championship points, but if you persevere, stay mentally strong, and be at your best against the best, you will win. And he did. But when you're on blood red clay with Rafael Nadal's name engraved below your feet, it takes something more than the usual to prevail. It is not without reason that emblazoned around the court is a quote from France's greatest son, Napoleon Bonaparte: 'Victory belongs to the most persevering'. Power, subtlety, blinding racquet speed, incredible court coverage, and the mindset of a winner even before you set foot on court. That is what it takes to be a Grand Slam Champion. Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz brought all of that and more to Court Philippe Chatrier for the epic French Open final on 8 June. But this is not about analysing the incredible five sets that two young tennis players at the peak of their game played against each other in Paris on Sunday night. It is not even about the fact that this may well rank alongside the 2008 Wimbledon final as one of the top 3 grand slam finals ever played. This is about Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. It is about exploring why and how two great competitors can raise their game to such stratospheric levels precisely when they need to. Performance is not forged in isolation What Alcaraz and Sinner proved on Sunday is that performance is rarely forged in isolation. The ascendancy of the greats, whether it be individuals or teams in elite sports or epoch-defining businesses, is often accelerated by the presence of a formidable rival, a competitor whose skills and ability are matched only by their own. At its core, a rivalry is a crucible of motivation. When two entities—individuals, teams, or companies—are locked in a contest where neither can afford complacency or even the status quo, the instinct to outdo the other becomes a relentless driver of improvement. It ceases to be merely about winning or losing. In sports, the most celebrated rivalries—Lionel Messi versus Cristiano Ronaldo and Rafael Nadal versus Roger Federer that played out over the past two decades, or the Los Angeles Lakers versus the Boston Celtics that dominated the 1980s, were not just spectacles for fans. They became laboratories of excellence. The Alcaraz-Sinner final demonstrated what empirical studies confirm—that athletes in direct, high-profile rivalries perform at a higher level than they otherwise would. The Messi-Ronaldo rivalry, examined through the lens of goals and assists, shows that both players' performances were significantly elevated when their competition was most intense. The presence of a rival who is equally gifted, or even slightly superior, forces each to dig deeper, to innovate, and to perfect their craft. Alcaraz needed to be outhit, outthought, and simply outplayed for over two sets by Sinner last night before raising his own game beyond what his most fervent fans could have expected. For over a decade, Messi and Ronaldo dominated world football, each pushing the other to ever-greater feats. Their rivalry was not just about individual accolades but about setting a new benchmark for what was possible. When Messi scored a hat-trick, Ronaldo responded with a brace and a match-winning goal. When Ronaldo claimed the Ballon d'Or, Messi redoubled his efforts to reclaim it. The result was a golden era for football, with both players breaking decades-old records. Nadal-Federer-Djokovic went even further by demonstrating over a two-decade period that a three-way rivalry can be even more potent. When Nadal burst onto the scene as a precociously talented teenager, Federer, standing alone at the top of the tennis world, was forced to improve. Nadal, in turn, on Federer's retirement, credited him for making the Spaniard a better player. And when Novak Djokovic emerged with his new avatar after an ordinary start to his career, both Nadal and Federer had to move their game a notch higher to compete and win. The result was an incredible 66 Grand Slam titles between them. In business, the most enduring rivalries, like Coca-Cola versus Pepsi, Nike versus Adidas, and Microsoft versus Oracle, have shaped industries and redefined standards. For over a century, Coke and Pepsi battled for market share, each innovation from one prompting a countermove from the other. The cola wars drove both companies to invest heavily in marketing, product development, and global expansion. The result was a continuous cycle of improvement, with each company raising the bar for the other. The impact of the Nike-Adidas and Microsoft-Oracle rivalries was no less. Companies like Toyota, Amazon, and General Electric have institutionalised continuous improvement through frameworks born out of the need to stay ahead of rivals, to eliminate waste, and to deliver superior value to customers. Toyota's Production System, for example, was developed in response to the challenges posed by global competitors. By focusing on quality and efficiency, Toyota not only surpassed its rivals but also set new standards for the entire industry. Similarly, Amazon's obsession with speed and customer satisfaction is fuelled by the knowledge that rivals are always just a click away. Such rivalries across industry have shown time and again that the need to outperform a worthy competitor drives innovation, sharpens strategy, and compels companies to continually reinvent themselves, just as it does in elite sport. Also read: No escape from Alcaraz. He's the perfect combination of Nadal and Djokovic Science of competition Working independently, sports psychologists and researchers in business strategy have come to similar conclusions, identifying four elements that drive high performance through competition: Increased motivation : The desire to outperform a rival is a powerful motivator, often stronger than the desire to achieve personal bests in isolation. Innovation and creativity : Rivalry forces individuals and organisations to think outside the box, to experiment with new techniques, and to take calculated risks. Continuous improvement : The presence of a worthy competitor ensures that complacency is not an option. Each success by the rival is a challenge to do better. Sharpened focus: Rivalry heightens focus and concentration, as the stakes are perceived to be higher. In each of the cases we looked at, from stadiums to boardrooms, these are the four elements that have anchored greatness. Rivalries drive greatness The greatest individuals, teams, and companies do not achieve their status in a vacuum. They are elevated by the presence of a rival who is equally skilled, equally ambitious, and equally determined. This rivalry is not a zero-sum game; it is a symbiotic relationship in which each party pushes the other to new heights. The stories of these rivalries are not just about competition. They are about the relentless pursuit of excellence, the joy of the contest, and the transformative power of a worthy adversary. Whether in the stadium, the boardroom, or the pages of history, it is the presence of a rival that brings out the best in us all. And just in case any doubts lingered in people's minds, last night, over five-and-a-half hours and five sets of scintillating tennis, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner provided living proof of their joint drive to greatness. Anindya Dutta is a sports columnist and author of 'Wizards: The Story of Indian Spin Bowling' and 'Advantage India: The Story of Indian Tennis'. He tweets @Cric_Writer. Views are personal. (Edited by Ratan Priya)
Time of India
8 hours ago
- Time of India
Dallas Mavericks' Luka Doncic trade debate resurfaced as Hall of Famer Don Nelson shows firm protest wearing signature Slovenian star's shoes
The Dallas Mavericks' controversial decision to trade Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers has sparked a fresh wave of criticism, this time from one of the franchise's most iconic figures. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Hall of Famer Don Nelson used his appearance at the NBA Finals not only to accept the prestigious Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award but to issue a bold, visual protest, donning Doncic's latest signature shoes as a direct rebuke of the trade. His dramatic gesture has reignited conversation across the league and among Mavericks fans still reeling from the blockbuster move. Don Nelson called Luka Doncic's trade a tremendous mistake Don Nelson, the NBA's all-time winningest coach until 2022, made a rare public appearance at Game 2 of the NBA Finals between the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder. As he received a career-capping honor, Nelson made an unexpected statement that sparked a huge discussion in the basketball world. 'I want everybody to know I'm wearing Luka's shoes, his new shoes from Nike … and I'm wearing them in protest for the trade from Dallas,' said Nelson in front of gathered media. 'I think it was a tremendous mistake by the Dallas franchise to trade him. I want everybody to know that.' The 85-year-old coaching legend hasn't left Hawaii in seven years, but said this occasion and this message were important enough to break that streak. With his son Donnie Nelson, the former Mavericks GM who drafted Doncic in 2018, also in attendance and sporting matching footwear, creating a moment of protest and pride for the Nelson family. Nelson, who coached the Mavericks from 1997 to 2005, is revered in Dallas and across the league. During his tenure, he laid much of the foundation for the Mavericks' modern identity and coached legends like Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now 'Luka is my dear friend,' Nelson added. 'My philosophy was always, when you've got a great player, he's yours for a lifetime. You don't get rid of great players.' That philosophy, Nelson explained, traces back to Red Auerbach, his coaching mentor. 'His philosophy was when you have a great player — Bill Russell, Havlicek, Sam Jones, you name 'em — you don't lose that player. You keep him for a lifetime. You put his number up, and you honor that player. That's been my philosophy.' Doncic's exit from Dallas in a trade for Anthony Davis stunned the league and enraged the Mavericks' fanbase, many of whom called for general manager Nico Harrison's resignation. While the Mavericks now pivot toward rebuilding around Cooper Flagg, who they are widely expected to select, Nelson's protest serves as a reminder that some mistakes linger longer than others. Also Read: Despite being away from the sidelines for over a decade, Nelson's influence on the game remains profound. 'History has already reflected Don Nelson's staggering contributions as a cutting-edge innovator and visionary of the NBA game,' Carlisle said via ESPN. 'Back in the '80s and '90s, he made teams adjust to historic pace, liberal 3-point shooting, inverted offense and disruptive defensive schemes.' As for the legendary ex-Mavs coach, Don Nelson recorded 1,335 coaching wins.
