Luka Doncic dismisses claim that he has a beef with Kristaps Porzingis

BOSTON -- While Kyrie Irving's return to Boston is a big storyline heading into the Celtics-Mavericks matchup in the NBA Finals, Kristaps Porzingis will also be playing against his former team in the series. But if there is a beef between Porzingis and Mavs star point guard Luka Doncic from when they were teammates in Dallas, that's news to Doncic.

Former NBAer Chandler Parsons stoked the flames of a Doncic-Porzingis feud earlier this week during FanDuel's Run It Back. Parsons said that Dallas fans really don't like Porzingis from his injury-riddled two-plus seasons with the team, and that Doncic didn't like playing alongside him. 

"Luka did not like playing with him, there is an actual beef there where it's going to be every time he touches the ball, he's getting booed," said Parsons.

When Parson's comments were relayed to Doncic on Monday, he laughed off the charge that he and Porzingis have a lingering beef.

"That's why I don't watch a lot of that. Because people don't know," Doncic told reporters in Dallas. "I've talked to Chandler Parsons maybe twice in my life, so I don't know how he would know that. 

"Me and KP have a good relationship. I don't know why people say otherwise," added Doncic.

Porzingis was acquired by the Mavs midway through Doncic's rookie season in 2019 with visions of the two forming a dominant pair in Dallas. The 7-foot-3 big man was recovering from an ACL injury and didn't debut for Dallas until the following season, and injuries throughout his tenure derailed that duo from having any success together.

While Porzingis has admitted that he and Doncic had some growing pains early on in their relationship, he dismissed any problems with his former teammate after being traded to the Washington Wizards in 2022.

With Porzingis set to return to action Thursday night after a five-week absence due to a calf injury, his focus is on the road ahead and not what happened in the past. When asked about his relationship with Doncic on Tuesday, Porzingis declined to elaborate on his time in Dallas.

"It didn't work out," he said. "I'm not even thinking about that right now. I'm thinking about the job ahead. We can think about that later."

Though it seems like a Porzingis-Doncic beef was greatly exaggerated, expect the two to go after each other pretty fiercely over the next two weeks.