Dallas Mavs' Luka Doncic on Becoming a First-Time Father: 'Happiest Day of My Life'

Despite not being able to pull off a great comeback against he OKC Thunder on Saturday, Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic is still on Cloud 9 after welcoming his daughter Gabriela into the world on Friday ... and he thinks his team will "win a lot of games" going forward.

Dalton Trigg | Dec 3, 2023

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Dallas Mavericks

It has been a wild 48 hours for Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic to say the least.

It all started on Friday, as Doncic and his fiancee Anamaria Goltes welcomed their daughter Gabriela into the world. Then, on Saturday, Doncic, as a first-time father, returned to the Mavs' lineup and nearly pulled off a massive 24-point fourth-quarter comeback after leading an NBA-record 30-0 run in the final frame.

"First of all, it was the happiest day of my life. I got the baby, but then today's game was a big rollercoaster, too," Doncic said after the Mavs ultimately lost to the Thunder 126-120. "I'm so sad we didn't win this game, but man, we gave a big, big effort."

Doncic ended up making some NBA history in two ways on Saturday, as he tied Boston Celtics Legend Larry Bird for ninth on the all-time triple-double list and also became the first player in league history to record multiple games with at least 35 points, 15 rebounds, 15 assists, two blocks, two steals and five made 3-pointers in a game.

Although the Mavs have now lost six of their last nine games while also having a bit of bad luck when it comes to injuries, Doncic was encouraged by his team's comeback attempt and believes they will 'win a lot of games' this season.

"This team today was impressive in the third and fourth quarter. We gotta play [like] this more times, man. We're gonna win a lot of games."

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Doncic finished his first game as a 'Girl Dad' with 36 points, 15 rebounds and 18 assists while shooting 11-22 overall and 5-13 from deep. If this is Doncic's version of now having 'dad strength,' then he's probably right about the 11-8 Mavs stacking up a lot more wins throughout the course of this season.

Doncic and company will be back in action on Wednesday when they'll take on the Utah Jazz in what will be the first of two In-Season Tournament consolation exhibitions for teams that didn't win group play.

Published Dec 3, 2023

DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.