Luka Doncic savaged Kings, Vlade Divac after icing Mavs win

Athletes never forget when a team passes on them in the draft, and Luka Doncic is no exception. The Sacramento Kings will forever be reminded of it.

During the Dallas Mavericks' 107-105 win over the Kings, Doncic paid special attention a certain fan in attendance. Vlade Divac, the former vice president of basketball operations and general manager with the Kings.

Doncic had some words for the former executive, and they were painfully true.

Few will forget back in 2018 when the Kings passed on Doncic in favor of Duke's Marvin Bagley III. In a cruel twist of fate, Doncic went on to win Rookie of the Year. Additionally, Doncic has taken the Mavericks to the playoffs three times, including a run to the Western Conference Finals in 2022, the same season the Kings traded Bagley to the Detroit Pistons.

Luka Doncic will always harbor a grudge towards the Sacramento Kings for passing on him

It's not uncommon to see athletes hold grudges. Take the NFL for example. Tom Brady still has a grudge against San Francisco for passing on him. Patrick Mahomes remembers when he was taken and how the Chicago Bears passed on him. It's also in the NBA. Do you think Michael Jordan still remembers Houston and Portland passing on him?

Just imagine what the Kings would be like if they had Doncic on their roster.

It's easy to think in those terms by using hindsight, yet it's still an important topic of conversation when it comes to the "what-if" scenarios that consistently get thrown around the NBA. Maybe the Kings would be having the same level of success the Mavs are having but greater, considering they did add some good talent later on, but that may have been because of passing on Luka.

You can't change the past, you can only live with the decisions that you make. Unfortunately, the Sacramento Kings will forever live with the decision to pass on Luka Doncic for Marvin Bagley. Duke is a college powerhouse, but that doesn't mean all their players will translate to superstars on the court, and right now, foreign players are having more success than the locals, so that may be a reason to look harder at identifying prospects.