Kristaps Porziņģis Has 'No ill Will' Toward Luka Dončić, Mavs: 'Was All Just Noise'

Boston Celtics star Kristaps Porziņģis echoed former teammate Luka Dončić when he downplayed any sort of friction from when they played together on the Dallas Mavericks.

"Not all of it was like not good," the veteran center told reporters Wednesday. "We had some good moments. We had some decent moments, but overall it just didn't work for both sides. It wasn't perfect. But I would say everything—teammates, locker room—I know at that time there were some rumors that there was something in the locker room. It was never like that. It was all just noise at the end.

"It just wasn't perfect for us playing together, and it didn't work out. And that's it. There's no ill will, I don't think from their side. For sure, [there is not] from my side. I don't think there should be. It just didn't work out, but I have nothing but love for Dallas and for my teammates and for everybody there."

The Celtics and Mavericks matching up in the NBA Finals has provided an opportunity to look back on Porziņģis' run in Dallas.

Acquiring him from the New York Knicks was a big gamble by the team and one that yielded back-to-back exits in the first round in 2020 and 2021. In addition, the Mavs' two best players didn't mesh in the way the team had hoped.

ESPN's Tim MacMahon reported in June 2021 that Porziņģis "has been frustrated, often feeling more like an afterthought than a co-star as Dončić dominates the ball and the spotlight."

Dallas finally made its choice between the two when it traded the Latvian to the Washington Wizards in February 2022.

Now, it's all water under the bridge.

Porziņģis' comments follow Dončić pushing back on remarks made by former NBA forward Chandler Parsons, who asserted "there is an actual beef there."

It's easy to look back on the past more fondly when you're at a better place in the present.

Dončić was an MVP finalist this year and seems to have a suitable co-star in Kyrie Irving who can lift Dallas over the top. Porziņģis wound his way to the franchise that has been the most consistent in the NBA for basically the last eight years now.

While they may not have been outright hostile, one can reasonably infer things weren't great between Dončić and Porziņģis because otherwise the latter wouldn't have been shipped out. But it doesn't appear this rises to the level of a genuine feud by any stretch.