Former Dallas Maverick Says Luka Doncic, Boston Celtics' Kristaps Porzingis Have 'Beef'

One of the lesser talked about storylines of the NBA Finals is Porzingis' return to Dallas, which one former Maverick says he shouldn't expect a warm welcome back to DFW

Oct 6, 2021; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks center Kristaps Porzingis (6) and guard Luka Doncic (77) watch their team take on the Utah Jazz during the first half at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports / Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

The NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks will start this Thursday, June 6th. While much of the talk is about Kyrie Irving and his return to Boston, a city and fanbase he has a nasty history with, Boston's Kristaps Porzingis will also be facing his former team. And if you are to believe one of his former players, Porzingis likely won't receive a great reception in Dallas.

Chandler Parsons, who played with the Dallas Mavericks for the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons and remains close with Mavs minority owner Mark Cuban, appeared on FanDuelTV's "Run It Back" to talk about Porzingis' return to Dallas and how Porzingis and Doncic don't really like each other.

READ MORE: Warriors Champion Hints On How Dallas Mavericks Can Beat Boston Celtics in NBA Finals

“They do not like Porzingis in Dallas… Luka did not like playing with him, there is an actual beef there” 👀@ChandlerParsons on Kristaps Porzingis playing his former team in the NBA Finals 🍿 pic.twitter.com/nDUvjnVOLc

— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) June 3, 2024

"It will be way more violent towards Kyrie Irving in Boston, but don't get it twisted, they do not like [Kristaps] Porzingis in Dallas. Luka [Doncic] did not like playing with him, there is an actual beef there where it's going to be every time he touches the ball, he's getting booed." Parsons would then be asked to expand on these comments and say "It didn't work out and Dallas, for whatever reason, those fans, they're proudful. If you're hurt, if you're not playing, if you're not doing what you were doing in the years before you got to the Mavs... When you go back and play that team you want to prove something, you want to show what they're missing, he game has more juice to it. Now we're talking about the NBA Finals."

Parsons has his own history of being booed by fanbases, so he's speaking from experience there. After signing a 3-year/$46 million deal with Dallas in 2014, he opted out of the final year to sign a 4-year/$94.4 million contract with the Memphis Grizzlies, notoriously one of the worst contracts in NBA history, where he'd play in just 95 total games and average 7.2 PPG before being traded to the Atlanta Hawks due to injury.

Dallas took a big swing on Porzingis, trading for him, Tim Hardaway Jr., Trey Burke, and Courtney Lee at the 2019 trade deadline in exchange for Dennis Smith Jr., DeAndre Jordan, Wesley Matthews, a 2021 first-round pick and a 2023 top-10 protected first-round pick (Dallas tanked the final two last lasts season to keep that pick and used it to draft Dereck Lively II, the pick rolled over to this season, where it'll be the 24th overall selection). At the time, Porzingis was out for the season with a torn ACL, but the Mavs were willing to bet on the talent and signed the Latvian to a max contract worth $158 million over five years.

Less than three years after signing that contract, Porzingis was essentially salary-dumped at the 2022 trade deadline along with a second-round pick to the Washington Wizards in exchange for Davis Bertans (who had a bloated salary himself that Dallas would later have to dump) and Spencer Dinwiddie. Dinwiddie was a big part of Dallas' run to the Western Conference Finals that season and was used to acquire Kyrie Irving the next season, so the Mavericks' made the most out of his acquisition, but the trade away from Dallas for Porzingis paled in comparison to what they gave up for him. After one season in the nation's capital, he was traded to Boston as part of a 3-team trade.

By his own admission on an episode on "The Old Man & The Three" podcast with J.J. Redick, Porzingis said that he and Doncic had some tension early on, but they tried to make it work. He said he could've been more mature about the situation and both should've communicated better but denied not getting along with Doncic by saying it was the "biggest misconception" people had about the situation in a press conference after the trade.

Parsons is exaggerating with his take here, as Mavericks fans don't have as much beef with Porzingis as they do frustrations from his time with the team as someone who was constantly injured. He came to town with a torn ACL, then tore his meniscus in the 2020 playoffs in the bubble, forcing him to miss games there. His injury history page reads like a CVS receipt but that's not necessarily something he could control, as players his size are more injury-prone.

Nonetheless, if he's healthy, his play in this series will be something to monitor as playing against a former team does provide a little extra motivation, as Parsons was alluding to.

READ MORE: Dallas Mavericks' Dereck Lively II Has Exceeded Everyone's Expectations, Even His Own

Stick with MavericksGameday for more coverage of the Dallas Mavericks throughout the NBA Finals

Follow MavericksGameday on Twitter and Austin Veazey on Twitter