Luka Doncic asserted that he has no ill will with Kristaps Porzingis.
The two were teammates on the Mavericks for Doncic’s first two-and-a-half seasons in the NBA, beginning in 2019, and are set to face each other in the NBA Finals with Porzingis now a member of the Celtics.
Earlier this week, on FanDuel TV’s “Run It Back”, Chandler Parsons, who played for the Mavericks for two seasons before Doncic and Porzingis got there, said that the two former teammates had “actual beef”.
At media availability on Tuesday, Doncic denied this was the case.
“That’s why I don’t watch a lot of that — because people don’t know,” Doncic said.
“I’ve talked to Chandler Parsons maybe twice in my life, so I don’t know how he would know that. But me and KP have a good relationship. I don’t know why people would say otherwise.”
On the “Run It Back” segment, Parsons said that while the situation with Porzingis and Dallas was not as toxic as what things were like with Kyrie Irving and Celtics teammates and fans, the situation did not end well.
“They do not like Porzingis in Dallas,” Parsons said.
“Luka did not like playing with him, there is an actual beef there where every time he touches the ball he’s getting booed. I think it’s known. It didn’t work out.”
Porzingis played for the Mavericks when he was coming off of the torn ACL that he sustained in his third season with the Knicks.
The Mavericks traded Porzingis to the Wizards for a package centered around Spencer Dinwiddie at the NBA trade deadline in 2022.