DALLAS — Luka Doncic: Texas forever?
Well, he's good at the bit, at least.
At the end of Luka's blue Camaro-driving, cowboy hat- and boots-wearing, Lakers-destroying Christmas Sunday, he dropped another Texas reference in his postgame press conference.
"I forgot my horny toad at the house," he told reporters.
His what?
"No, no, my horny toad. You don't know about the horny toad?" he questioned a confused reporter.
The room wondered if Luka was making a reference to the TCU Horned Frogs mascot.
"No, the animal," Luka clarified with a grin.
When asked why, Luka put it simply: "Because I'm Texan."
Watch the full exchange at the top of this article. It's pretty great.
Luka explained the toad as "a new pet" he received from Dude Perfect, the North Texas-based YouTube trick shot group. But it appears as if it was more of a bet payoff than an actual pet for the NBA superstar.
Dude Perfect posted a video later Sunday about an interview they did with Luka earlier this month. They dared the Slovenian start to try his best hand at all things Texans for the Christmas Day game, including wearing the cowboy boots and hat pre-game, working a "y'all" into his postgame presser and, yes, mentioning a horny toad.
He definitely nailed the boots and hat -- and he fooled us all on the horny toad reference.
Here's the video Dude Perfect posted on TikTok on Sunday:
Technically, the toad in question is known as a Texas horned lizard. But they're commonly known as a horned frog or toad, a nickname that stems from "their round body, short snout and pronounced stance," TCU explains here.
The takeaway for Mavs fans - aside from the hilarity of Luka tending to a pet horny toad, or even knowing what one is - is that our international superstar seems to be settling in just fine here in Texas.