Anyone who watched “The Last Dance” during the dog days of the pandemic back in 2020 knows how competitive you have to be in order to achieve greatness. The documentary showed Michael Jordan losing money to a now-legendary United Center employee in a back hallway of the arena.
It also produced arguably the greatest GIF of all time.
As a result of their ultra-competitiveness (or as a method to maintain it), NBA players will make some friendly wagers — from high-stakes Booray on the team jet to random bets on pre-game shots.
Enter Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic. Doncic was up to his old tricks during Sunday’s “Fan Jam” open practice at American Airlines center, drilling a preposterous hook shot from nearly full-court just before heading to the tunnel.
The reaction from Mavs center Dereck Lively II led one social media user to wonder, “How much did Lively lose to Luka just now cause Luka absolutely hit that.” The question seemed rhetorical, but Doncic promptly responded, claiming that Lively lost “100k” on the shot.
For us normal humans, this might seem like an unfathomable amount of money to bet on a practice shot. But keep in mind that Doncic is set to make just over $43 million this season. If he lands at the same playing time as he did last season, that means that Doncic will make $16,000 per minute, and it would take him less than a single quarter to make $100,000.
By contrast, Lively is still on a rookie contract and is set to make just over $5 million in his second season with the Mavs — so that $100k hits his bank account significantly harder than Doncic’s. That being said, Lively appeared to refute the idea that he lost that much money on Doncic’s shot, taking to X to call “B.S.” on his All-NBA teammate.
Dallas showed tremendous chemistry during last postseason’s run to the NBA Finals, and casual ribbing like this tends to build camaraderie — as long as the gambling debts don’t get too astronomical. It’s fair to assume that this isn’t the last bet that Doncic will make, and win, with one of his teammates.
