Devin Booker: Suns Felt Low Vibes in Dallas When They Landed After Mavs' Luka Trade

Dallas Mavericks fans are so unhappy with how the 2024-25 season has unfolded that even opposing players can feel it when they visit American Airlines Center.

"You can feel it when we land," Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker told reporters following Sunday's 125-116 road win over Dallas. "The vibes are low right now, but hopefully they can look back and once everybody gets healthy, on top of next season, still root on their team and root on their city."

Few players in the NBA would know the difference in Dallas from before and after the Mavericks traded Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers better than Booker.

After all, Dončić's trolling of Booker became a meme as the Mavericks eliminated the Suns during Game 7 of the 2022 Western Conference semifinals:

The mood is very different in Dallas now, as the Dončić trade was just the start of the issues that have derailed the team. Kyrie Irving was lost for the season to a torn ACL, Anthony Davis hasn't returned since suffering a left adductor strain in his first game with the team on Feb. 8 and Sunday's loss extended the losing streak to five.

Two-way guard Brandon Williams exited with a hamstring injury, while Kessler Edwards and Dwight Powell needed stitches after colliding.

"Never seen this," head coach Jason Kidd said, per Christian Clark of The Athletic. "Never been in a game where we couldn't take someone out to rest him because we didn't have someone to put in."

Clark echoed Booker's sentiments in his own reporting.

"Before the All-Star break, there was palpable anger inside the American Airlines Center about the Dončić trade," Clark wrote. "The mood inside the building lately has felt more like resignation. The trade was deflating, and injuries have made it so that the Mavericks are putting a husk of a team on the floor every night."

The Mavericks are 1.5 games ahead of the Suns for the final spot in the Western Conference play-in tournament, but it feels like just a matter of time before they are out of the postseason picture and looking at their chances in the draft lottery.