Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said Luka Dončić is “doing fine” after the 25-year-old star's home was broken into on Friday. This was the newest in a series of burglaries on the homes of skilled athletes in recent months.

“I reached out to him and texted him,” Kidd said Saturday. “He is doing well after recovering from this incident. I'm glad no one got hurt. I spoke to him today.”

No one was home on the time of the break-in and an investigation into the incident is ongoing, Dončić CEO Lara Beth Seager told multiple outlets. Accordingly, jewelry price around $30,000 was taken from the home The Dallas Morning Newswho obtained an internal police report.

It is unclear who broke into Dončić's house.

Since September, no less than six skilled athletes' homes have been burglarized, including Dončić's. On September 15, Minnesota Timberwolves guard Mike Conley's home was broken into. On November 2nd, the house of Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis was broken into.

On October sixth, a break-in occurred at Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes' home in Missouri. Mahomes called the incident “frustrating” and “disappointing.” Travis Kelce, Mahomes' teammate, also had his house broken into in October. On December ninth, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow's home was broken into in Ohio.

The NFL and NBA released memos in November in regards to the threat of burglary groups targeting the homes of skilled athletes.

The NBA's memo states that the FBI has identified “transnational South American theft groups” which are “allegedly well-organized, sophisticated rings that utilize advanced techniques and technologies, including pre-surveillance, drones and signal jamming devices.”

Dončić suffered a left calf strain within the Mavericks' December 25 game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. He is anticipated to be sidelined for no less than a month.

The Mavericks began a four-game road trip with a win against the Phoenix Suns on Friday.

Required reading

Celts

Things proceed to go downhill for Mavericks star Luka Doncic.

The 25-year-old guard was the goal of heavy criticism for his performance in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. The talented scorer was sent off for a foul within the fourth quarter as Dallas attempted to orchestrate a comeback within the decisive period against the Celtics.

Not only did Doncic put his team in a brutal situation with fouls (including 4 fouls within the fourth period), he also questioned the referee's performance in his post-game press conference as a substitute of taking responsibility for his own undisciplined play.

“I mean, I don't know. We couldn't play physically, so, I don't know. I don't want to say anything, but [a] sixth foul in the NBA Finals when I'm basically like that?” Doncic told reporters, gesturing as if he had been standing still. “Come on, man, this is better than that.”

Doncic's play and his postgame comments prompted ESPN NBA insider Brian Windhorst to call his performance “unacceptable,” adding, “The fact that he came out after the game and blamed the referees tells me he's nowhere near that point.”

Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Dončić shall be suspended from Game 3 of the #NBAFinals with just over 4 minutes remaining.

Replays and the review decision as seen and heard within the ESPN broadcast on ABC. pic.twitter.com/ot1R3YOOSs

— Awful Announcement (@awfulannouncing) June 13, 2024

Windhorst was removed from the one ESPN media star to sharply criticize Doncic and his comments following Boston's 106-99 win, which gave the Celtics a commanding 3-0 lead within the series.

Considering how much criticism former Boston star Kendrick Perkins has faced with the Celtics over the past few seasons, you realize Doncic has put himself in a difficult position if Perkins is the one calling him out.

“Let's put the (expletive) nonsense (expletive) aside. … We look at the Dallas side of things: Kyrie Irving showed up and did what he was supposed to do.” Perkins said on Wednesday night on the podcast “Road Trippin'.” “There’s no getting around it: Luka (swear word) is out of the game.

“He drained his team emotionally, even (Mavs head coach Jason Kidd). It started on offense, whining every damn turnover, falling to the floor, not getting back in transition, not trying for a second attempt. He didn't punch out once.”

Similar to Windhorst, Perkins emphasized that Doncic focused on the wrong things during Wednesday's game – even before he took out most of his frustration on the referees.

“It was a timeout, he was yelling at his teammate, and his teammate wasn't involved in the play at all,” Perkins said. “Who's mad? The cop committed a foul. That wasn't a foul. Why did you even put yourself in that position? He quit.”

“That was by far the worst performance I've seen from Luka in the playoffs. He lacked energy, leadership, and emotions. He wet the bed in the crib.”

On Thursday: Stephen A. Smith of ESPN took part in the criticism of Doncic on “First Take”, Smith challenged the Celtics to finish the sweep on Friday night in Dallas.

“It was the level of selfishness and the lack of responsibility,” Smith said of Doncic's performance on Wednesday. You're the superstar of the team. You're speculated to be the leader of the team. Let's put you all in perspective. We're sitting here and Kyrie Irving is seen because the reasonable one.

“The reasonable person who has to step up and help bring Luka Doncic back in because Luka Doncic is so petty and so petty. Let's not forget him yelling at his bench and his coaches, 'Damn it, question the decision.' We saw that. He's pointing the finger at everyone but himself, and he's taking himself out of the game.”

MINNEAPOLIS — As Luka Dončić sat down within the tiny postgame press conference room, the smallest he’ll use for the remaining of his season, he placed a trophy on the table in front of him. It was awarded to him after he was named MVP within the Western Conference finals. The award began with some kind of shiny gold podium on which the silver globe rested. He admitted he wasn't sure how it will slot in his trophy case.

“(It's) home,” said Dončić, the one destination he was sure of at that moment. “I don't know where yet.”

Dončić's glittering accolades are too quite a few to list. He has a trophy from Real Madrid's 2018 EuroLeague championship, but none from Slovenia's first EuroBasket victory in 2017. There are countless plaques and medals, too many to count, from past tournaments and finals he played in way back. What was going through his mind, except a beer after the sportwas not his recent metallic chunk, however the pursuit of a good more golden one.

On Thursday, Dončić reached the NBA Finals for the primary time with a 124-103 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5. With him got here his recent teammates, the most effective he has ever had, reinforcing their towering superstar who seemed destined to succeed in this stage.

Now he has it.

It's been 13 years because the Dallas Mavericks reached the NBA Finals. 13 years since they won the primary crown in franchise history under Dirk Nowitzki's leadership. 13 years of toiling in Nowitzki's late years after which learning to trust Dončić after his arrival. This is Nowitzki's franchise, all the time will likely be, but there isn’t a higher successor. Not because these two legends are equivalent – not even close – but because they share one trait: a relentless will to win that energizes everyone around them. What Nowitzki left behind, Dončić carried on. Now he's where Nowitzki once led them: within the Finals against the Boston Celtics, which begin on June 6.

Dončić didn't watch the NBA Finals as a baby. “It was 4 a.m.,” he said. “I couldn't. I had to go to school the next day.”

But from the primary minutes of Game 5, he left little question that he would rating his first point. He had 10 points in the primary three minutes, 15 in the primary eight, and 20 at the top of the quarter, with the Timberwolves only scoring 19 points themselves.

“I turn around and he's shooting from the halfway line,” center Daniel Gafford said. “I thought, 'At this point, I don't even have to put up a block for you, brother.'”

It was an indication of the finality that Dončić has shown repeatedly before, most famously within the decisive seventh game against the Phoenix Suns two seasons ago.

“This was very close,” said Mavericks coach Jason Kidd. “He took the crowd out of the game right from the start and made it clear to his teammates that it was time.”

Dončić's 36 points on 14 of twenty-two shooting were matched by fellow running partner Kyrie Irving's 36 points. Irving is the one player on the team who has been to the Finals before. Irving is the most effective player Dončić has ever played with, and he matched him on every shot in Thursday's decisive win. He made sure that Dončić's growling and screaming repute was matched by his own firm and sure resolve. With these two on the helm of the team, in games where each resolve losing isn’t an option, the final result is assured.

The teammates around them – whom Dončić met for the primary time 12, 10, and even three months ago – quickly earned Dončić's undivided trust on the court.

When Dončić is unstoppable, his teammates change into augmentation of his brilliance. When played directly against him, Dončić overcomes his lack of athleticism and throws sky-high lob passes that Gafford puts within the basket. When double-covered, rookie phenom Dereck Lively II catches the ball on the free-throw line and tosses it to an open teammate — often PJ Washington or Derrick Jones Jr., two defensive heavyweights who quickly learned that hesitation is unnecessary when those passes are informed by Dončić's own confidence in them.

At times, Josh Green attempts passes so daring that you just wonder if Dončić is manipulating him once they succeed. At other times, old friends like Maxi Kleber show up with their veteran know-how to remind us that Dončić remains to be a young man, just 25 years old, and never even at his best, whilst he watches his teammates grow out and in of their age group. Even 21-year-old guard Jaden Hardy, who has been revitalized over the past two weeks, struts around with a swagger that have to be at the very least partly Dončić's.

Dončić is all the time on the helm and on the helm of the team. He earns his canonization on nights like this, when all you’ll be able to see is that he’s the most effective basketball player on the planet. Whether he and his teammates are enough to topple the Boston Celtics for the time being stays to be seen. The battle will likely be played out over seven games, or six, or nevertheless many are needed.

“We're not finished here yet,” said Dončić. “We need four more.”

Dončić's trophy case, where he’ll place his newfound record wherever it matches, could use a centerpiece. What Dončić would really like to see at this point is the largest trophy the game has to supply. It's something he's all the time wanted since he entered this league laden with laurels he desired to surpass.

Now his first likelihood begins.

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Required reading