Mavs' Luka Doncic: 'It's Going to Be Weird' Playing Without Fans at NBA Restart
Luka Doncic has gotten quite used to playing in front of packed houses with the Dallas Mavericks.
As one of the league's rising stars, he's found joy in the show he puts on and the electricity the crowd brings to his game. Now that he'll be playing in the NBA's restart, where no spectators are allowed, he's not quite sure how the environment will feel.
"It's going to be weird, so I don't know how I'm going to feel," Doncic said during a media Zoom call (h/t Mavs.com's Dwain Price). "Obviously it's going to feel really weird without the fans, but I'll just do the same routine, same as always."
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The weirdness has become a refrain for many around the league who are preparing to head to Orlando, Florida, for the restart. Los Angeles Clippers star Paul George has mentioned it. So have many others.
Basketball has always been among the most intimate sports. In the best gyms, fans are right on top of the action, feeding into the pressure that comes with each moment and providing levity when needed. In just about every famous photo from an NBA game, there are thousands of fans in the background whose expressions illustrate the moment in ways that words can't.
As the league gets ready to crown a new champion, that won't be the reality this year.
Instead, fans will have to watch on TV—and potentially get the benefit of hearing more trash talking.
But it won't be the same. It can't be. And Doncic knows this.
"I enjoy very much the fans in the gym," Doncic said. "As our opponents are playing at our home, there's always noise."
The Mavs will enter the restart with a record of 40-27 and should be secure in the seventh seed in the Western Conference, though there's still a chance they could move up over the remaining eight games before the postseason starts.
If they win their second NBA title in 2020, they will have earned it as much as they did in 2011. But without fans there to see it in person, the league will have a tough time manufacturing the intensity that a packed house brings to an arena.
