Luka Doncic is finding his rhythm with the Los Angeles Lakers, but his time with the Dallas Mavericks remains a recent memory. Weeks after his departure, former franchise executive Haralabos Voulgaris has revealed some unexpected insights into the dynamics within the Mavericks’ organization during the Slovenian guard’s tenure.
“Every person who worked at the Mavericks, except for me, was terrified of this guy,” Voulgaris said of Doncic during an interview on the My First Million podcast. “(They) wanted to kiss his (expletive) while he was there so they could secure their future.”
The former executive worked with the Mavericks from 2018, the same year Luka joined the team from Real Madrid, until 2021, and gained a unique perspective on the internal workings of the franchise and the star guard’s attitude.
“He doesn’t take his conditioning seriously, he doesn’t take his diet seriously,” Voulgaris continued, addressing a longstanding criticism of Doncic. “This is all true… But it’s like, great, you can correct these things.”
Voulgaris shares curious anecdote about Doncic’s eating habits
During the same interview, Haralabos Voulgaris recalled an intriguing story from Doncic’s rookie season with the Mavericks, offering a glimpse into the Slovenian star’s questionable eating habits. “He was wearing like a sauna jacket while playing basketball to lose weight. Mark (Cuban) comments to me like, ‘Yeah, we got Luka in a sauna jacket because he’s a little overweight.’” the former executive began.
“So I’m at the end of practice, the practice is catered by a restaurant and they bring out this giants like Gatorade style things. And inside there’s one sweet tea and one’s lemonade,” Voulgaris added. “I see this guy (Doncic) and he fills up this giant (thermo). I was like, ‘What the (expletive) is that? Mark, I know nothing about nothing but I know that liquid calories are death.’ And Mark is like, ‘Stay in your lane, you don’t know what you’re talking about, we got experts in this.’ And I was like, ‘I can’t believe how crazy this is, what am I doing here?’”
Finally, Haralabos recalls: “Two days later the sweet tea was removed and one of the players, I can’t remember who it was, joked like, ‘Gambler Bob is the reason why the sweet tea and the lemonade are not here anymore.’ And he may or may not got upset, I don’t know, but that was my first interaction.”
What has Doncic said about his physical condition?
Throughout his NBA career, one of the recurring topics surrounding Luka Doncic has been his weight. That theme carried over into his early days with the Los Angeles Lakers as well. When asked if he was bothered by the criticism regarding his alleged weight and lack of professionalism when it comes to his diet, the guard addressed the issue candidly. “It’s a motive. I know it’s not true, but it’s a motive.” he said upon his arrival in Los Angeles.