Sound system catches Mavs’ point guard … um … off guard
It’s safe to assume that Dallas Mavericks fans were pleased with the team’s nine-point victory over the Oklahoma Thunder on Thursday night. But maybe not as pleased as whoever awkwardly interrupted Luka Doncic’s post-game conference.
After leading the Mavs to even the Western Conference semifinal series 1–1, Doncic sat at the podium to talk about the big win. That’s when things took a weird turn.
The press conference was abruptly cut off by the loud groaning of a woman. Doncic instantly went wide-eyed with disbelief and broke off mid-sentence. The point guard and a few reporters started laughing as soon as the little sound ended, and he hung his head and covered his face with his hand.
Amid uncomfortable giggles, one interviewer remarked, “Okay, moving on.”
Doncic then straightened his back, grinned, and got ready to resume the interview.
“Hopefully it’s not live,” Doncic said in jest.
Twitter has theorized the sound came from any number of sources, with guesses ranging from a journalist opening the wrong tab on their phone to someone’s locker room incident being broadcast on a speaker. Representatives for the Mavericks could not immediately be reached for comment on where the sound came from. The Athletic NBA Show podcast from today suggests that it might have been a practical joke pulled by one of Doncic’s colleagues.
Tim Cato, a staff writer for The Athletic who covers the Mavericks, joined host and producer Andrew Schlecht on the podcast today to discuss the game from last night. Although Cato did not see the incident happen, he did hear that a player used their phone to play a video in an attempt to trick Doncic. To his understanding, though, the player’s identity remained unknown.
“I had to clarify it was a player to defend the honor of the Dallas media core,” Cato chuckled. “We don’t do that type of stuff down here.”
