The Dallas Mavericks had their annual “Fan Jam” event on Sunday and at the end of the night, their fans got to witness Luka Doncic pull off yet another absurd trick shot. Doncic incredibly hit a one-handed full-court shot and it seems that shot cost his teammate Dereck Lively II $100,000.
Full court MAGIC 🪄 pic.twitter.com/KVyx3xQk2U
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) October 6, 2024
Fans were quick to notice that Lively had thrown a towel at Doncic as he was walking off and speculated that he might have lost a bet. When one wondered just how much money the 20-year-old might have lost, Doncic revealed it was $100,000.
“100k Dereck Lively.”
Lively then hilariously reacted to Doncic’s post.
“Man the bs I see everyday is crazy.”
Lively should have known better than to bet that big of an amount, especially with how good Doncic is at those trick shots. He has certainly learned his lesson the hard way and it’s safe to say he won’t be making this mistake again.
Lively, who signed a four-year, $22.3 million rookie deal with the Mavericks in 2023, is set to make $5 million this upcoming season, so he has only lost about 2% of that in this bet. It’s not going to hurt his pockets as much as one might think, but it’s still obviously a rather significant amount.
While Doncic hit this trick shot, he didn’t take part in the scrimmage on “Fan Jam” night. Mavericks PR stated earlier this month on X that the five-time All-Star suffered a left calf contusion during workouts and will be re-evaluated in a week.
It doesn’t appear to be a serious injury, though, and Doncic is expected to suit up for the Mavericks in their season opener against the San Antonio Spurs on Oct. 24. There are high expectations of the 25-year-old heading into 2024-25 and I think he is going to have a phenomenal campaign.
Doncic averaged 33.9 points, 9.2 rebounds, 9.8 assists, 1.4 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game in 2023-24 and I expect him to put up similar numbers once again. If he helps the Mavericks, who had a 50-32 record last season, finish as one of the top two seeds in the Western Conference, he’d have a great shot at winning his first MVP award too.
As for Lively, the Mavericks would be hoping he can build on what was an impressive rookie season. The big man averaged 8.8 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 0.7 steals, and 1.4 blocks per game in 2023-24 after being selected with the 12th pick of the draft. If Lively takes a big leap as a sophomore, the Mavericks might just end up at the top of the pile in the West.
Jason Kidd Wants Luka Doncic To Be A Better Defender In 2024-25
While there was a lot to like about Doncic’s play in 2023-24, there was one major criticism of him, defense. The Slovenian especially struggled on that end of the floor in the NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics and head coach Jason Kidd wants to see some improvement. Kidd has demanded better defensive effort from Doncic in 2024-25.
“There’s going to be nights where Luka has to guard someone… It’s going to be a committee, This league is about matchups and being able to get the matchups right. I don’t think he’s going to run from that.”
“Kai (Kyrie Irving) and Klay (Thompson), there’s going to be a committee of guys who are gonna have to guard. There’s going to be nights where Luka is gonna have to guard maybe someone a little bit quicker. There’s not too many guys that are as fast as him, I know everybody thinks I was joking, but there’s some seriousness that Luka’s gonna have to guard somebody.”
With Klay Thompson not being anywhere near as good a defender as Derrick Jones Jr, who left for the Los Angeles Clippers, Doncic is going to have to defend more than he did last season. It’ll be interesting to see if he steps up to that challenge.
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