Mavericks' Michael Finley Explains Viral Moment of Taking Luka Doncic's Beer

When the Dallas Mavericks advanced to the NBA Finals in 2024, one of the more viral moments came when assistant general manager Michael Finley took a beer away from Luka Doncic, who had just won Western Conference Finals MVP. At the moment, you could tell Doncic was a little confused at the ordeal, and everyone thought it was the team's way of continuing to show their displeasure with Doncic's bad habits.

Finley, who is now the interim Co-GM after Nico Harrison's dismissal earlier this season, has provided some more context behind that moment.

“I leave the court. I see number 77 standing over there having a beer, and I say, ‘Congratulations, young fella, you definitely deserve that beer.’ And he's like, ‘Thanks, man, thanks.’ I leave him. I go in the locker room. I celebrate with the rest of the team," Finley said last week on 105.3 The Fan. We're having a great time. Champagne is being popped. Pictures are being taken, and we're having a jolly old time. And I come out of the locker room, and our social media department is frozen. I'm like, ‘What’s going on, guys? What's wrong?’ They said, ‘We wanna take a picture of Luka and his dad.’ I said, ‘Well, take the picture. You guys are great at it, take the picture. They said, ‘But Luka’s holding a beer, he's drinking a beer.’ I said, ‘Well, go take the beer from him.’ They said, ‘What? We can't do that. I said, ‘OK, I'll do it.’ So when you watch the video, I go take the beer, I hug Luka again, and that's why Luka looked like, ‘Man, what are you doing? We just talked about this, and you said it was cool.’”

Luka Doncic was enjoying his beer alongside his dad, before Michael Finley took it away 😆🍺

ctto. pic.twitter.com/tbgEuIstcw
— Luka Doncic World 🪄✨ (@LukaWorld77) July 29, 2024

If Only That Were the Mavericks' Biggest Issue

Remember when Luka Doncic's conditioning was the Mavericks' biggest issue, and wondering if he would return from international play ready to go? And yet, he'd still lead the team to the playoffs, and the NBA Finals in his last full season.

Since the infamous trade, the Mavs are a whopping 35-64, which includes two Play-In games. They're going to need to enter a full teardown, and they started that by trading Anthony Davis, the main return of the Doncic trade, in a salary dump to the Washington Wizards.

Other players like P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford could be on the move this offseason, too. Washington hasn't shown to be the best fit for star rookie Cooper Flagg, and Gafford will have demand from other teams. Dallas could use extra draft capital if they're offered any.

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