"Not actually ejected" - NBA insider debunks notion of Luka Doncic orchestrating Suns fan ejection
Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks suffered a frustrating 132-109 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night during the NBA's rivals week. The game saw the Mavericks take an early lead in the first quarter before struggling in the second and third. Despite a spirited comeback attempt in the fourth, Doncic's Mavericks dropped a loss to Devin Booker and the Suns.
While the story of the game should have been the 46 points scored by Devin Booker, an incident between Luka Doncic and a fan was what made headlines. After halftime, Doncic looked tired, leading to a fan shouting out to the former MVP candidate to jump on a treadmill.
Doncic was quick to point out the fan, gesturing to him before arena staff went over and had a talk with the individual. During that time, Kyrie Irving, who was sidelined for the game, also walked over to stare down the fan, with rumors indicating Doncic had the fan thrown out.
On Thursday, ESPN's Tim McMahon shed light on the situation, indicating that the fan wasn't actually thrown out of the game. In a post on social media, he wrote:
"Clarification from a Mavericks source: The Suns fan that Luka Doncic requested to be ejected was not actually ejected. The man exited voluntarily after being approached by an arena staffer."
Looking at what Luka Doncic had to say about Wednesday's fan incident
Luka Doncic has played basketball professionally from the time he was a teenager. As fans from around the world are well aware, the environment of games in European countries often resembles that of football matches.
Passionate ultras not only wave massive flags and signs, but they also break out in chants frequently while putting on incredible pyro shows with flares. Given the environment he grew up playing in, Doncic refrains from having fans ejected.
That being said, he explained post-game that he was frustrated with the fan after the individual was cursing at him throughout the first half. After the game, he spoke to media members about the situation:
"He was cursing me the whole first half, too, ... I never would eject a fan. They paid for tickets, but I had enough. It's a little bit of frustration."
From the sounds of things, while Doncic and Tim McMahon went back and forth about the ejection, Kevin Durant seemed to defend Doncic. As he explained post-game:
"If somebody talk some shit to me, I'll talk it back and we'll move on. That's usually how it should go. Once it gets overboard, little disrespectful to the point you got to stop the game, that's different."
The next meeting between the two teams will take place on Feb. 22, where Doncic will look to get his revenge on Booker and the Suns.