In an interview on this week’s episode of Cari & Jemele (won’t) Stick To Sports, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was asked to respond to a recent comment from ESPN NBA analyst Zach Lowe on his podcast, in which Lowe called Mavs star Luka Doncic “one of the biggest whiners in the league.” Cuban took the bait and punched back at Lowe, saying that Lowe did not know what he was talking about before adding, “f*ck you, Zach Lowe.”
here's the clip of mark cuban telling zach lowe "fuck you, you don't know shit" in response to lowe talking about luka being one of the whiniest players in the league toward the refs. pic.twitter.com/GOttOiXe50
— Josh Bowe (@Boweman55) February 5, 2021
As Cuban says here, a fair bit of what Doncic is doing in these moments is the product of his competitiveness and, at the same time, a subtle acknowledgment that Doncic’s game is at its best when he’s able to use his physicality and size to score and make plays. Cuban admits “he’s got some sh*t to him,” but that it comes from a place of passion, not whining.
At the same time, those who watch Dallas know that Doncic spends a fair amount of time needling referees, too. Most importantly, all this stuff hits the fan when a team is losing, and the Mavs are in the middle of a 9-14 start to the season. In something that applies to basically every professional athlete, what is seen as competitive fire in huge wins becomes irritating in losses, so it’s understandable that Doncic is getting more heavily scrutinized right now, and it’s also fair for Cuban to take issue with perhaps the most prominent NBA analyst on the internet calling out his best player.
