Eager crowds and intense emotions usually color the NBA court, but the Mavericks’ recent game against the Suns sketched a different picture.
Mavericks superstar Luka Dončić created quite a stir when he had an uncontrolled fan ejected from the arena, then fired back at ESPN reporter.
At the heart of the controversy was an eager Suns fan who, according to MacMahon, taunted Dončić with the remark, “Luka, you’re tired! Get your a– on the treadmill.”
Luka Doncic asked security to eject this Suns fan, who was sitting two rows behind midcourt press row. The comment the fan made that drew Doncic’s wrath: “Luka, you’re tired! Get your ass on the treadmill!” pic.twitter.com/chNYwiJBC0
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) January 25, 2024
This incident occurred during the third quarter of the game at Dallas’ American Airlines Center. The fan’s trash-talking lived only for so long as Dončić’s patience ran dry, and he requested security to escort this fan out of the arena.
Adding fuel to the fire was MacMahon’s incipient tweet concerning the incident, which visibly annoyed the Mavericks star.
Dončić did not hold back and ventured an abusive accusation against MacMahon, claiming that the ESPN reporter had a tendency to accuse him falsely.
He alleged that MacMahon was the one to highlight the negative aspects about him consistently.
“You’re the first one to put out something bad about me. I just find it funny, you’re always the first to put bad stuff about me.”
Luka Dončić and Tim MacMahon go back and forth about him tweeting about Luka asking for a fan to be ejected in the second half, after cursing at him the whole game.
Luka: “You’ll be the first one to always put something bad about me.” pic.twitter.com/eAIRbKyVkn
— Landon Thomas (@sixfivelando) January 25, 2024
MacMahon retorted by claiming that almost 99% of his content about him was predominantly positive.
The conversation quickly escalated and turned into an open forum of argument.
What added a tinge of kick was when Dončić asked MacMahon if that was the first incident of heckling in the game.
MacMahon confirmed that the report of the fan’s criticizing comment regarding cardio might have led to the ejection.
Dončić, however, insisted that the particular Suns fan had been cursing him out through the entire first half.
Despite his tolerance, he drew a line when comments about his cardio performance were brought to the table.
“I never would eject a fan. They paid for tickets, but I had enough. It’s a little bit of frustration,” Dončić said.
The heated argument with Dončić did no favor to MacMahon’s already tarnished image within the Dallas Mavericks community.
The ESPN reporter has had a rough track record, including an incident in the past where Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban briefly revoked his press credentials in 2016.
Further adding to the discord, Mavericks’ head coach Jason Kidd also criticized MacMahon for his negative coverage of the team.
