Luka Dončić Gave Jalen Brunson the Finger After the Lakers Lost to the Knicks

Friendly fire.

Luka Dončić and Jalen Brunson were teammates in Dallas. They still seem to get along. | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Luka Dončić and Jalen Brunson faced off on Sunday night as the Lakers took on the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. The former Mavericks teammates didn't exactly have a shootout, but their friendly rivalry was on display after an NBC camera caught Dončić waiting for Brunson with his middle finger extended after the game.

If the look on Brunson's face was familiar, that's probably because it's the face he makes whenever Josh Hart says just about anything. Brunson is impervious to smart alecks at this point. So if you want to flip him off on national television he's not going to give you a reaction.

Luka Doncic shows Jalen Brunson the middle finger at the end of the Knicks-Lakers game pic.twitter.com/7JDMB1QYuW

— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) February 2, 2026

Dallas took both Dončić and Brunson in the 2018 NBA draft. While Dončić obviously made an immediate impact as Rookie of the Year, Brunson averaged 9.3 points per game in just under 22 minutes. By their third season together they were combining to average 57.3 points per game in a playoff series.

Then the Mavericks let Brunson walk and eventually traded Dončić. At some point you have to question what the front office is doing, but then again they did totally nail that Cooper Flagg pick so whoever was in charge for that probably has job security, right?

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