"Get your a** on the treadmill": Suns fan heckles Luka Doncic, Mavericks star gets him ejected
Luka Doncic wasn't in the mood to tolerate any disrespect from a fan during the Dallas Mavericks' 132-109 home loss to the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday. Doncic and the Mavericks had given up a 16-point first-half advantage while his counterpart Devin Booker was outplaying him, which piled on his frustrations.
Doncic was also playing through an ankle injury, which he seemingly aggravated at the end of the second quarter after stepping on Kevin Durant's foot. The Slovenian was issued a tech, too, before the teams went into the locker room for arguing with an official. Amid this situation a Suns fans called out Doncic for being tired, saying (via ESPN's Tim McMahon):
"Luka, you're tired! Get your a** on the treadmill."
Doncic heard the fan and had security eject him from the arena in the fourth quarter. Here's the video of the fan exiting the game: Here's a clip of Doncic's reaction to the heckler and the latter being ejected out of the building:
Luka Doncic's reaction to incident with fan
Luka Doncic spoke at length about the situation with the heckler after the game. The Slovenian clarified that it wasn't just one instance that made him involve security and throw the fan out of the game. Doncic preached he's all for fans being at the arena, but revealed the fan repeatedly cursed him out.
"He was cursing me the whole first half," Doncic said. "I would never eject a fan. They pay for tickets. But I had enough."
Doncic refused to say what the fan said but seemed agitated by how things went down. The Slovenian is no stranger to facing trolls and hecklers, but the incident seems to have escalated, which made him get the fan ejected.
Luka Doncic and Mavericks are in a slump
Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks have slumped to five losses in their last seven games, dropping to 24-20 on the season. Wednesday's loss put them further away from a top-six spot. It's a similar theme to last year when the Mavericks recorded many losses that eventually threw them out of postseason contention.
Against the Suns, the Mavericks started strong, taking a 46-30 lead early in the second quarter. However, Phoenix kept chipping away behind Devin Booker's scoring night, making it a one-point game by halftime. The Suns capitalized on the momentum swing and built a 21-point lead in the third quarter in a quick turnaround.
The Mavericks never got back into the game from that point on. Devin Booker finished the night with 46 points on 73.9% shooting, including six triples, shaping up an improbable win for the Suns. Phoenix extended its winning streak to seven games.