Luka Dončić had a parting gift for Jalen Brunson before the pair of former Mavericks teammates walked off the Garden court Sunday night.
As Knicks and Lakers players embraced following the Knicks’ 112-100 victory, Dončić flashed his middle finger after the star point guard finished another postgame exchange and walked over.
Dončić appeared to be joking with the gesture, as Brunson appeared to crack a smile as he got closer.
Brunson and Dončić’s paths intersected back in 2018, when the former was selected at No. 33 overall in the second round and the latter was taken No. 3 overall by the Hawks — before getting shipped to Dallas in a trade that night.
They then overlapped for four seasons before the Mavericks allowed Brunson to walk in free agency and sign with the Knicks, where he has since become their captain and one of the league’s best players.
That left Dončić as the cornerstone in Dallas for the next two-plus seasons, until the Mavericks stunningly sent him to the Lakers last season — a deal that has since backfired for them and led to general manager Nico Harrison being fired.
“Definitely weird,” Brunson told reporters postgame when asked about seeing Dončić in a Lakers jersey. “I think we all expected him to be in Dallas for the longest time. But yeah now he’s a Laker and he’s playing great and still doing the things he does.”
Brunson and Dončić both played integral roles in the Mavericks’ run to the Western Conference finals in 2022, where they were eliminated by the Warriors in five games before Brunson’s pivotal decision in free agency followed.
When they overlapped at the Garden on Sunday, Dončić, who’s averaging 33.7 points per game and could win the MVP award if he maintains that production pace, poured in 30 points for Los Angeles, while Brunson struggled by going 4-for-15 from the field — though he managed to dish out 13 assists, allowing the Knicks’ role players to flourish.
The victory extended the Knicks’ winning streak to six games, and the Lakers have dropped two of their last three entering Tuesday’s match against the tanking Nets.
