Mavs fans took advantage of every opportunity to celebrate their former superstar, including any time he scored in the Lakers’ win.
By Mike Curtis
Mavericks Beat Writer
The Dallas Morning News
Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) jogs down court after hitting a three-pointer over Dallas Mavericks center Dereck Lively II (2) during the first quarter at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, April 9, 2025.(Tom Fox / Staff Photographer)
Luka Doncic’s dramatic return to American Airlines Center for the first time as a member of the opposing team went how anyone in Dallas who’s followed the Mavericks’ former cornerstone would imagine.
A heightened sense of emotion coursed through the arena full of Doncic supporters, Mavericks fans and anyone in between Wednesday. From the moment Doncic entered the visitors’ tunnel with the Los Angeles Lakers, Mavericks fans took advantage of every opportunity to celebrate their former superstar, including any time he scored in the Lakers’ 112-97 win.
Doncic channeled any bottled-up feelings over the last two months since Dallas traded him into one of his best performances of the season: 45 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
“He was really good tonight,” Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd said after the game. “It was incredible. The fans were great, the shooting was great. Luka’s performance was great. It was great. That’s who Luka is. I said that when he was with the Mavs, he’s one of the best players in the world. He displayed that again tonight.”
The game was a stark reminder of the stunning trade that rattled the NBA. It was a game of celebration and mourning for a former superstar whom the Mavericks once believed would be the successor to Dirk Nowitzki. But the game also served as a turning of the page on Doncic’s premature final chapter in Dallas.
Doncic spent the immediate moments after the final buzzer sharing pleasantries with his former teammates, along with new Mavericks cornerstone Anthony Davis.
“Those are my brothers,” Doncic said. “I know we’re not on the same team now but we went to war together. It was nice to see everybody.
“For AD, we got traded for each other so everybody is going to compare us. I think he’s an amazing player and I think he’s going to do really good in Dallas.”
The game had postseason implications. Dallas could have clinched a spot in the Play-In Tournament for the first time in franchise history with a win, but instead earned it with 11th-place Phoenix’s loss to Oklahoma City.
It was also a reminder of what has become a transitional season for the Mavericks, a disappointing reality for a team that made the Finals last year and entered this season with championship expectations and Doncic as its star.
“We have two games left to get things going in the right direction before we play Sacramento,” Kidd said. “This game is over. There’s nothing we can do, [Luka] is not coming back as a Mav. He’s with the Lakers, so we have to move forward, and that’s what we’ve done.”
Now that the Doncic chapter has ended, what’s on the next page for Dallas?
The short-term road lies in an attempt to reach the playoffs through the Play-In tournament. Dallas will likely need to win two games on the road before they can even think about a potential postseason rematch with top-seeded Oklahoma City.
The long-term outlook is more precarious. The Mavericks’ headliners are Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson. It’s a team with a prominent frontcourt presence, but one with thin backcourt depth since Irving will likely miss the first few months of next season to recover from a torn left ACL.
The Mavericks could’ve used the injured Irving’s services on Wednesday as Davis and Thompson combined to score 19 points, 13 of which belonged to Davis.
Doncic was far and away the best player on the floor. His memorable night began before the ball was tipped as he was the final Lakers player introduced in the starting lineups. Doncic, who spent 6.5 seasons in Dallas, was visibly emotional and held back tears as he watched the compilation of memorable moments in a Mavericks jersey.
After the game, Doncic said the clip of his infamous game-winning shot over Rudy Gobert in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals was the sequence from the tribute video that made him most emotional.
“We were always the underdog in every series,” Doncic said. “We really came together and played together. It was another level. Everybody was locked in. I would say that was the moment that I remember last year.”
The emotions from the crowd alternated between adoration and disdain as cheers for Doncic turned to jeers for Nico Harrison, the Mavericks general manager, who was heckled with “Fire Nico” chants throughout the game. Harrison watched from the tunnel between both benches, his usual viewing spot since the Feb. 1 trade.
The chants were at their loudest at the end of the game, resonating throughout the arena as the Mavericks suffered a third straight loss and one that was more personal than any that came before.
Mike Curtis is the Mavericks Beat Writer for The Dallas Morning News. Before his arrival at the DMN, he spent two seasons covering the Detroit Pistons at The Detroit News. Mike earned his bachelor’s degree in Communications from Tennessee State University and received his master’s degree in Media and Communication from Middle Tennessee State University.
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