Luka Doncic’s poor conditioning was a problem long before he was shockingly traded at the trade deadline in February.

New Mavericks CEO Rick Welts has publicly discussed the Luka Dončić trade that sent him from Dallas to the Los Angeles Lakers. In an interview with Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News, he addressed how he "probably underestimated the reaction" the fans had to the recent Dončić trade.

Doncic, who had dragged an otherwise unremarkable Mavericks team through the Western Conference, became the face of their failure. Dallas coach Jason Kidd was forced to come out and defend his maligned star, even though without Doncic, the Mavericks were a faded Kyrie Irving and a bunch of role players.