Mavericks' dark Luka Doncic prediction brutally exposes their true feelings about him

Dallas Mavericks fans witnessed one of the most highly anticipated regular season games of all time on Tuesday night, as the Mavs battled Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers for the first time since the blockbuster trade that went down earlier this month.

Doncic controlled the game for Los Angeles, finishing with a 19-point, 15-rebound, and 12-assist triple-double, and he entered this game at Crypto.com Arena with plenty of motivation. He made the Mavericks regret ever moving him, and this game was personal for him.

Doncic has heard all of the noise coming out of Dallas over the last few weeks, including major concerns about his conditioning and effect on culture, and as more time goes on, the reasoning behind Nico Harrison making this move looks even more questionable. It was reported earlier this week that Jaylen Brown's defense on Doncic in the NBA Finals made the team question him, ultimately leading them to trade him, but the evergrowing list of reasons as to why the Mavericks traded the face of the city doesn't end there.

Just hours after the Mavs lost to the Lakers in Los Angeles, more information is being reported about why Dallas traded Doncic, and the stakes of the Mavs' bet against Doncic rose even higher.

Mavericks fear Luka Doncic's body won't hold up much longer

It has been clear that Dallas has been concerned about Doncic's conditioning, as they feared this could lead to him getting injured more frequently, and they took exception to some of his off-court habits such as drinking beer and smoking hookah. Harrison didn't want Doncic as the team's leader anymore, and plainly, it sounds like the Mavs don't believe in his future at all.

According to Sam Amick of The Athletic, Doncic's off-court habits have been a point of concern for figures around the league since before he was in the NBA, and people from within the Mavericks "predict his basketball demise, highlighting a health history that, as some see it, will likely lead to catastrophe in the next five years or so."

It sounds like figures within the Mavericks organization don't believe that Doncic's body will hold up long enough to become an all-time great player like many people expect, going as far to say that his "health history" will probably end up causing some sort of crisis within about five years. Injuries had not been a problem for Doncic over his first six years in the NBA, as he averaged about 67 games per season, and Dallas must believe that his injuries from this year coupled with his diet and off-court habits are going to lead to a disaster for him.

The Mavericks predicting that a player who has made five All-NBA First Teams in a row and just led them to the NBA Finals is going to crumble over the next few years may be one of the most wild takes in NBA history, and this prediction somehow coming true may be the only thing that partially makes this trade justifiable.

It remains a major consensus that the Mavericks messed up by making this trade, with an inadequate return package for one of the league's best players, but if Doncic's body does end up breaking down over the next few years, then a conversation can begun to be had about if this trade was worth it.

But until that moment comes, the Mavericks will be known as the team that bet against Doncic, and considering how the first six seasons of his career in Dallas went, that might not be a smart bet. He single-handedly ended dynasties in the playoffs such as the Utah Jazz, Phoenix Suns, and Minnesota Timberwolves, as each of these teams made drastic franchise-altering trades after Doncic took care of them in the postseason, and rather than allowing Doncic to grow and seeing if he can go on more spectacular playoff runs, Harrison traded him. This is a major gamble from Harrison that Doncic's career trajectory won't continue to rise and that injuries will lead to his downfall and overshadow his potential.