Luka isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
In the world of sports media though it is never too early to go behind the scenes and start spreading the seeds of doubt about a Superstar leaving the team.
Luka is going to sign a Supermax deal and the Mavs will have at least 5 years to try to build a winner around him, but for now The Athletic says the honeymoon is over in Dallas.
Dallas announced Haralabos Voulgaris’ hiring in the fall of 2018 with a title — director of quantitative research and development — that vastly understated his actual role. Multiple league and team sources tell The Athletic that Voulgaris has been the most influential voice within the Mavericks front office since joining the team, either initiating or approving virtually every transaction made over the past two seasons. Those same sources add that Voulgaris has frequently gone as far as scripting the starting lineups and rotations for longtime head coach Rick Carlisle.
He began gambling on the NBA in the late 1990s and had made millions by the early 2000s. His success, he says, came in part from an instinctual reading of certain coaches.
A high-level power broker within the league says the Mavericks recognize that there’s urgency to build a contending team around Doncic after losing in the first round in each of the past two seasons. The clock is ticking.
Internally, there are concerns the front office’s dysfunction has hurt its ability to do so — and that poor relationships Doncic has with key members of the franchise, including Voulgaris, could impact his current desire to remain in Dallas long-term.
This is a good story for a Monday, but since Doncic is going to sign his supermax extension don’t expect anything to happen in the short term.
The question begs more long-term.
Superstars control the NBA and if Luka wants out he can get out, but I don’t see that happening this early in his career.
Flip the page for more of the Mavs downfall, Mark Cuban says it is BS.