Mavs Director Bilsborough Reportedly 'Never Earned Doncic's Trust or Respect'

Among the many factors that led to the fallout between the Dallas Mavericks and superstar Luka Dončić was general manager Nico Harrison's decision to fire director of health and performance Casey Smith in Aug. 2023 and replace him with Johann Bilsborough.

According to ESPN's Tim MacMahon "Bilsborough struggled to establish rapport with Dončić and the five-time first-team All-NBA selection's 'body team.' Harrison had already alienated Dončić by running off the people he trusted and respected. Bilsborough, who already had big shoes to fill in replacing Smith, never earned Dončić's trust or respect, according to sources."

MacMahon referenced the firings of Smith, and later athletic performance director Jeremy Holsopple and manual therapist Casey Spangler last summer, as one of the factors that hurt Dončić's relationship with the organization.

The three were all "longtime Mavs employees who had helped Doncic, a Slovenian who spent his adolescence in Spain, make the major cultural transition after coming to Dallas as a teenager. They had become confidantes for the superstar, but sources said Harrison saw them as 'enablers' of Dončić, despite them being immensely respected by their peers throughout the league."

Ultimately, the situation culminated in the shocking trade of Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers ahead of February's trade deadline, a deal that looked bad at the time and looked even worse this past week when the Mavs failed to advance past the Play-In Tournament.

The Lakers, meanwhile, are the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference Playoffs, thriving since Dončić's arrival.