Dallas Basketball

'Holy S––t!': Mavs Owner Cuban Blown Away by Doncic Dunking Lakers

Luka Doncic rocked Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday night with him monster put-back dunk over Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban gives his unfiltered take on what he witnessed.

Dalton Trigg

If there are still people who think Luka Doncic his very athletic, they obviously didn't tune in to what happened on Tuesday night as the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 109-104 at Crypto.com Arena.

luka dunk

Luka Doncic slams it home over Dwight Howard.

USATSI_17805733
Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

LeBron James does his best to guard Luka Doncic on the perimeter.

USATSI_17805663
Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Luka Doncic backs down Russell Westbrook.

With a little more than three minutes left in the first quarter, the Lakers held a 25-22 lead over the Mavs. On the previous Dallas possession before the fireworks were ignited, Doncic was pushed in the back by Russell Westbrook on a drive to the basket, but he didn't get the foul call. Instead of wasting energy by gnawing at the officials, Doncic channeled those feelings and took it out on the rim.

It didn't matter whose side you were on or where people were at when they saw it, everyone's jaws dropped when they witnessed 'Air Doncic.'

Mavs owner Mark Cuban to DallasBasketball.com on his initial reaction to the play: "Holy s––t! Was that Luka? [I enjoyed] the moment and the joy it brought to his teammates."

Coach Jason Kidd was also in disbelief at what his eyes saw from the sideline. "You sure that was Luka," asked Kidd while grinning ear-to-ear. "It wasn't Maxi [Kleber]? Davis [Bertans]? Dwight [Powell]? It had to be Dwight."

USATSI_17805738
Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Luka Doncic sizes up Carmelo Anthony.

USATSI_17805741
Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

LeBron James looks to back down Luka Doncic in the paint.

USATSI_17784874
Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Spencer Dinwiddie nails a huge clutch three off an assist from Doncic in the Mavs big comeback win over the Warriors on Sunday.

Although the dunk was spectacular, perhaps everyone shouldn't have been as shocked as they were, given that Doncic has shown us glimpses of his athleticism throughout the season. Nearly one month ago on Feb. 4, Doncic threw down a mean dunk on top of then-Philadelphia 76ers center Andre Drummond.

Doncic's attention to detail on the court has never been an issue, but after coming into the season out of shape by his All-NBA First Team standards, he's now taken the next step by applying that same attention to his diet and conditioning. If Doncic can keep this level of play up, the Mavs will have a good chance of beating whichever team they face in the first round of the postseason.

"[Luka]'s more athletic than you think," said newly acquired Mavs sixth-man Spencer Dinwiddie. "When you have the best player on the court every night, you have a chance to win basketball games."

Published
Dalton Trigg
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.

Home/News