The Athletic has live coverage of Luka Dončić’s return to Dallas as a Laker.
DALLAS — Draped across the 20,000 spectator seats inside American Airlines Center were T-shirts with the following message written in Slovenian, directed at the evening’s special guest:
“Hvala za vse,” which means “thank you for everything.”
Those shirts were mostly on the backs of the Dallas Mavericks faithful who adored Luka Dončić for 6 1/2 seasons — and still do — when Dončić sat alone on the Los Angeles Lakers bench Wednesday night, repeatedly wiping tears from his face with a towel as a touching video tribute played for him during pregame introductions.
Luka Dončić was moved to tears while watching his tribute video from the Mavericks 🥹
🎥 @NBATVpic.twitter.com/btW749ULbk
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) April 9, 2025
Up until the shocking news broke on Feb. 2, almost no one outside of Mavs general manager Nico Harrison’s office could have imagined any scenario in which the people of Dallas were welcoming the Slovenian-born superstar as part of the visiting team, or thanking him and growing emotional with him as he was introduced as a member of the Lakers.
And not in their worst nightmares could they have envisioned him scoring 45 points, tying his season high, against Dallas.
But that’s precisely what transpired in the Lakers’ 112-97 win in the first game for Dončić in Dallas since the blockbuster trade two months ago.
Dončić, a five-time All-Star, perennial MVP candidate and 26-year-old who had already led Dallas to two Western Conference finals and the NBA Finals last season, scored 31 of his points in a blistering first half in which he shot 11-of-16 with six 3s. He notched his 45th point — tying his earlier season high for the Lakers against the Milwaukee Bucks on March 13 — with a teardrop of a shot with 1:35 to go for a 110-94 lead. The Mavs called timeout, but Lakers coach JJ Redick left Dončić in the game for one more second so he could foul and get one last standing ovation from his adoring Dallas fans.
Dončić added eight rebounds and six assists in 38 minutes.
“Some were comparing it to Babe Ruth (getting traded by the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees), which is kind of cool,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said before the game.
With the win, Los Angeles clinched a playoff berth, and LeBron James, who scored 13 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter, surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the second-most games played (1,561) in NBA history.
The other superstar in the Dončić trade, Anthony Davis, played his first game against the Lakers and finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Naji Marshall was Dallas’ top scorer with 23 points.
All of those things took a back seat to Dončić’s return. A player like him, just entering his prime, simply is not traded.
But early on Feb. 2, news broke that the Mavericks had traded Dončić, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris to the Lakers for Davis (a 10-time All-Star and 2020 champion with the Lakers), Max Christie and the Lakers’ first-round pick in 2029. Two franchises were changed forever.
The Mavs chose to honor Dončić during introductions instead of the first timeout. It was the proper thing to do, as Dončić, who never asked to be traded and said he wanted to play his entire career in Dallas, was overcome with emotion as the tribute video played. When his name was finally called and the crowd roared, Dončić slowly walked through the players line, with long embraces from Morris and James.
Reunion games are common these days in the NBA, but they’re never quite like this — when a player just entering his prime, with the talent, skills, intangibles and ties to a community, gets traded against his wishes.
The crowd roared for Dončić’s first bucket early in the first quarter and erupted with “Fi-re Ni-co” chants at various stoppages in play, especially when either team was at the foul line. There were “M-V-P” chants for Dončić and plenty of applause for the Mavericks’ players, too, but it was clear who was favored inside American Airlines Center.
“There will be a lot of emotions, I think, a chance for fans to say hi or say bye,” Kidd said. “Unfortunately, with the trade, they didn’t get that opportunity. You’re talking about one of the best players in the world on one of the biggest stages, who’s always delivered.”
Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki was in attendance for Dončić. He was there in Los Angeles when the Mavericks played the Lakers for the first time since the trade on Feb. 25.
The Lakers acquired the next face of their franchise, Dončić, already a co-standard-bearer with James, who is near retirement. The Mavs say they restructured to win with defense, adding Davis to an already large frontcourt, and avoided a disruptive summer when Dončić would have been eligible for a five-year, $345 million contract extension.
Dončić insists he was always prepared to sign and remain a Maverick for his entire career. It has become clear Harrison did not want to offer Dončić the extension, stating generally that some players are better fits culturally than others.
The trade was met with great anger from the Mavericks fan base; there were protests inside and outside American Airlines Center, with patrons calling for Harrison’s job. During the first few home games after the trade, fans protesting Harrison were removed from the arena.
When the Mavs traveled to Los Angeles for the first game between the franchises since the trade (Davis was out that night with an injury), Lakers fans thanked Harrison, who was in attendance, for making the trade. The Lakers won that game, and Dončić scored 19 points against his old team. His first trip to Dallas was always going to be the more emotional reunion, though, because, well, this was home — a home he intended to keep.
“When you look at just the business of sports, change happens,” Kidd said. “When change happens, it’s the ones who carry on and keep moving forward — those are the special people. Fans are gonna be fans; they have a right to boo, they have a right to cheer. Hope is still in that locker room. AD is not a bad player. I think he’s a top 75 player (of all time), if I recall.”
Dallas still needs a win or a Phoenix Suns loss to clinch a spot in the West’s Play-In Tournament next week, which would be a triumph for the franchise, given that Kyrie Irving went down with a torn ACL on March 3. The Mavs were in ninth place when they made the trade. Davis was out with an injury at the time, then reinjured himself in his Dallas debut Feb. 8 and missed the next 18 games.
Davis was averaging 20.6 points and 9.6 boards in seven games for Dallas; Dončić entered play averaging 27.1 points, 8.1 rebounds and 7.6 assists in 26 games for the Lakers.
“I’m forever grateful to AD for our relationship as player-coach and him allowing a first-year coach, a guy who’s never coached outside of 9- and 10-year-olds, to actually coach him,” Redick said. “And I thought we had a terrific working relationship and a terrific rapport, and I’ve expressed that to him — my gratitude for that. It was a pleasure to be around every single day, and, yeah, I think regardless of if we had five bigs or if we have one big like we currently do in our rotation, he’s gonna give you nightmares. Like, he’s that good. He’s one of the best players ever, and you certainly have to scheme for him.”
This story will be updated.
(Photo: Sam Hodde / Getty Images)
