Luka Doncic just wanted to celebrate his NBA Finals appearance with a cold beer, but Mavericks executive Michael Finley crashed the party.
After Dallas’ 124-103 Game 5 road victory over the Timberwolves, Doncic was with his father, Sasha, congratulating other players when Finley snatched a beer out of Doncic’s hand, appearing to annoy the star guard, before Doncic took the drink and walked away.
Doncic tried to wrestle the ball out of Finley’s hands, but Finley kept walking and Doncic shrugged in obvious frustration.
It’s unclear why Finley, the team’s assistant general manager and vice president of player personnel, stole the beer, but it could be food-related, with Doncic’s health coming under scrutiny at times.
During the 2023 offseason, multiple reports surfaced that Doncic would start the year at 260 pounds, a far cry from his preferred weight of 230 pounds.
The Mavericks have asked Doncic to “lose his desired playing weight” ahead of this season.
Doncic looked good early this season, but Post some workout videos on social media after the Mavericks missed the 2023 playoffs.
In 2021, Reggie Miller said on TNT that Doncic was “ [the floor]”And he wasn’t really running.”
With the Mavericks four wins away from winning the NBA Finals, Beal appears keen to hold off until mid-June.
Still, the drink was well worth it as Doncic had a strong game in Game 5 of the conference finals, scoring 20 points in the first quarter to put the game on the line.
Finley, who won an NBA Finals with the Spurs in 2007 and was a multiple-time championship favorite with the Mavericks, was one of the league’s best on-ball defenders at the time and recorded more than 1,000 steals in his career.
Perhaps none of those takeaways were as smooth as this one against one of the league’s best players, more than a decade after his playing career ended.
Doncic has carried the Mavericks on his back since being selected third overall in the 2018 NBA Draft, leading Dallas to its first Finals appearance since Dirk Nowitzki defeated LeBron James and the Miami Heat in 2011.
Doncic and the Mavericks have a full week before Game 1 of the NBA Finals, which will be held in Boston on June 6.
