Luka, This Book Is For You
A book recommendation for you.
Luka Doncic,
You were recently traded from the franchise you were the superstar of. You planned to be in Dallas for the entirety of your career. You loved being a Maverick and showed your pride time and time again. You gave the team everything you got and continually sacrificed your body on the hardwood for them.
You gave the fans hope and excitement with your triple-doubles, and your 73-point game, and your leadership during the 2024 NBA Finals.
But out of nowhere, the Mavs brass slapped you up across the backside of your head and shipped you away to the Los Angeles Lakers.
You’re hurt. You feel betrayed.
And who wouldn’t be? With all that you gave the team and with all that the team gave you, you’d think you would be sticking around for much, much longer.
You’re in pain, especially after the Mavs “contained” you on your first match-up against your former team (“contained” is in quotes because Luka didn’t drop 70 points and he only made 35 percent of his shots. But he did record a triple-double).
This is why you should read Circe by Madeline Miller.
Circe by Madeline Miller is a cautionary tale of spiteful revenge.
Circe is the daughter of the titan Helios and naiad Perse. But unlike the other divine beings, she is ugly and powerless.
Thus, she’s constantly bullied by her family members.
She eventually finds comfort in a mortal fisherman, Glaucos, and longs to be with him. However, the two cannot be together because she is a god and he is human.
Stressed, Circe looks for workarounds and finds a way to turn Glaucos into a divine being. She feeds him sap from flowers that were grown with the blood of the titan Kronos and turns him into a god.
But Glaucos becomes an absolute arrogant dick and wants nothing to do with Circe now that he’s mighty and powerful.
Instead, he’s interested in Circe’s main source of agony, the nymph Scylla.
Angry and jealous, Circe devises a plan to harm Scylla. She uses the magic from the flowers on Scylla and turns her into a blood-thirsty monster.
After being caught, Circe is exiled to the island of Aiaia, where many not-so-good things happen to her.
The story of Circe should teach you that spiteful revenge is not the way to go.
You, Luka, should not let your emotions fuel you. Rather, you should continue to do what you do best -play excellent basketball- and show the Dallas Mavericks’ brass they made a mistake by continuing to be the superstar that you are; invalidate their assessment of you with your success.
Because if you let your emotions get the best of you, you could be exiled (in the form of suspensions and fines).
Buuuut, feel free to be a little petty when you visit Dallas for the first time as a Laker in April. You’re an athlete and it’s okay to let some emotion control you -especially if that emotion leads to a 70-point performance.
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