(Reuters) -The legions of Dallas Mavericks fans who shed tears after guard Luka Doncic was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in February included Gene Jones, the wife of longtime Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, he said on Tuesday.
Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison executed the seismic trade more than two months ago and the controversial move came up in a press conference with Jones ahead of this week’s NFL Draft.
“Luka was a personal friend and watched a lot of games with us and would hope that he would watch more games with us as we go along. I know his family pretty well and his support staff pretty well,” Jones said.
“Now, Gene was All-State, scored 17 straight free throws in a state championship game, and Gene lives and dies with that basketball (team) and just cried when Luka left,” he said.
“You say how could that happen. I’ve got a little bit better understanding how something like that can happen.”
Gene Jones was far from the only fan to have an intense emotional reaction to the controversial trade.
Harrison has been on the receiving end of “Fire Nico” chants at some home games since the trade and on Monday said he underestimated the level of devotion fans had for the sharpshooting 26-year-old from Slovenia.
“I did know that Luka was important to the fanbase,” he said.
“I didn’t quite know to what level.”
While the Mavericks were sent home after failing to advance out of the play-in tournament, Doncic and the Lakers play Game Two of their first-round playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves in Los Angeles later on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los AngelesEditing by Toby Davis)
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