Luka Doncic is, along with the potential final year for Dirk Nowitzki, the main reason to watch the Dallas Mavericks play basketball this season. The rookie has turned heads across the NBA with play well beyond his years, making even the most skeptical of his critics admit that, yes, the 19 year old was ready to play with the pros in America right out of the gate.
Barring a swift change in the basketball landscape, Doncic will be the NBA’s Rookie of the Year in a few months, and his play has essentially made another young point guard — Dennis Smith Jr. — expendable in Dallas. All of this is remarkable, as it the first ejection of Doncic’s career.
He notched that on Saturday night in an otherwise unremarkable game against the Indiana Pacers on Saturday night. Doncic got his second technical foul of the evening in the fourth quarter when he kicked a basketball into the crowd during a stoppage in play.
Luka couldn't believe he got ejected for this moment 😅 pic.twitter.com/x91BwXy93A
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 20, 2019
It was a frustrating night for Doncic, who had just eight points, five rebounds and six assists in 24 minutes before he got the gate, but it’s also a fairly hilarious way to go. Luka looked like a midfielder for a country that preaches hard work and effort and all that stuff over being a skilled soccer player. The best examples of this are England and the United States.
Luka seemed genuinely upset that he got kicked out for that, because it stands to reason he was trying to kick the ball up to himself and he just ended up doing a Sergio Ramos impression. But knowing how little control he has with his right foot makes this a good decision by the refs. You can’t let fans potentially get injured with an errant strike like that.
