Was Luka Doncic edited out of Mavericks hype video ahead of Lakers trip?

Just two weeks on from losing their star player, the Dallas Mavericks travel to Los Angeles to take on Luka Doncic and the LA Lakers.

The blockbuster move that saw Luka Doncic and Anthony Davis swap teams has been described as the most shocking in NBA history. Doncic, still only 25, has plenty of prime years ahead of him and he’s backed to become the face of the Lakers franchise going forward.

Many in Dallas are unhappy with the decision to trade away the star asset and there have been protests against the front office. Mavericks fans were seen with a symbolic coffin ahead of a recent game and were angered furthered when a new hype video released for the team appeared to block out footage of Doncic.

But while the footage did look like Doncic had been erased from franchise history, that was not the case. The artist involved, Dallas rapper Dorrough Music, released a statement saying: “As a lifelong Mavericks fan and someone who takes great pride in the game of basketball, I would never be part of anything intended to remove, censor, or disrespect Luka Doncic.”

“The video was produced by my team with the intention of energizing and uniting Mavericks fans, and there was never any intent to erase any player’s contributions to the franchise.”

Further investigation has revealed that the players in question were not Doncic, but rather Quentin Grimes and Maxi Kleber. Both players also left the Mavs this month - Grimes to the 76ers, Kleber to the Lakers - but both also featured at a different point in the video, proving that their omission was not pointed.

For all the controversy sparked by the Doncic trade, the Mavericks can start to regain fan trust with their on-court performances. Dallas has won four out of seven games since trading Doncic, hardly a sign of a glorious new era. There’s still a lot of hard work for the Mavs to do but a victory over the Lakers on Monday evening would help to build some much-needed momentum after a tumultuous few weeks.

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