Luka Doncic is a Euro rookie, so maybe he gets a little bit of a pass on this one, but someone needs to tell him and I’ll be the one to do it: Luka, you smile WAY too much on the court.
This is the NBA. We take this seriously. The game is meant to be taken seriously. This isn’t your old happy-go-lucky Euro league where everyone is drunk half the time and people play to have “fun”. Basketball in America is not about fun. It’s about winning. It’s about dominating your opponent with a scowl on your face.
Do you think Montrezl Harrell smiled even one time while he dominated the Mavericks? Heck no. Maybe he did as a way to show up the other team, but there were definitely no smiles because of the joy of playing the game like Luka flashes all the time with his vampiric canines. Harrell knows how things are in the NBA, and it’s up to some of the grittier Mavs veterans to teach those concepts to Doncic.
It’s a matter of professionalism as well. In America, we don’t take kindly to people who look like they’re enjoying their jobs. Last time I was at Taco Bell, the counter-wench, instead of staring dourly at me when I walked up to place my order, smiled and said “How are you doing today?”. I almost walked out right there. How am I supposed to enjoy my food when I know it was possibly touched by someone who doesn’t hate their life and everyone who they cross paths with in said life? It’s a good thing I was really hungry, or I would’ve taken my business to the McDonalds where the teens look like they’ve never smiled before in their lives. Just as it should be.