Luka Doncic hugged Mark Cuban. He laughed and exchanged words with his former Dallas Mavericks teammates.
He even accidentally started walking toward the Mavericks’ locker room at halftime before correcting himself and spinning around.
Doncic was back home in Dallas, where he was drafted, grew into a superstar and thought he’d spend his entire career.
Saturday marked his second time playing at American Airlines Center after the Mavericks stunningly dealt him to the Los Angeles Lakers at the trade deadline last Feb. Emotions went from being at a feverish pitch in his return last April to softening to nostalgia this time around.
“I mean, obviously there’s always going to be emotions,” said Doncic, who had 33 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds in the Lakers’ 116-110 win. “I was happy to be back here. I went to my house, I saw my cars. But obviously it’s always going to be emotions. I really appreciate how they cheered for me when I was introduced. It’s always going to be a special place for me.”
Let’s call this the acceptance phase of the seven stages of grief.
First, there was shock.
During Doncic’s introductory news conference with the Lakers on Feb. 4, he walked onto the podium looking like a man who had been betrayed. He said the last 48 hours felt like a month, adding, “I thought I was going to spend my whole career there.”
Then, there was grief.
During his return to Dallas in April, Doncic buried his face in a towel as tears streamed down his cheeks during the Mavericks’ video tribute for him. He responded with a 45-point, eight-rebound, six-assist and four-steal performance.
Nine months later, Doncic has settled into the fact that he wears a purple and gold jersey.
So have Mavericks fans, who went from holding a mock funeral outside American Airlines Center with a $3,000 casket to mourn Doncic’s departure to settling into paying their respects with a standing ovation as he was introduced and chanting MVP as he shot free throws in the second quarter.
Ironically, Doncic torched the Mavericks on Saturday with one of the very things his former team criticized him for lacking: Defense. When the Lakers began clawing their way back from a 15-point fourth quarter deficit, Mavericks coach Jason Kidd strategized to have his team attack Doncic.
It backfired.
“We counted after the game, he had six straight stops where they targeted him,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “Just a fantastic job from him. Then [he] makes the game-sealing defensive play with the charge on [Naji] Marshall.”
Things have come full circle for Doncic, who felt deeply slighted by the trade, but has responded to the criticism about him being out of shape and unwilling to play defense by entering this season in arguably the best shape of his career.
He’s leading the league in scoring (33.4 points a game) and was the top vote-getter by fans for the All-Star Game. Kidd was asked Saturday if he wishes he could’ve done more to stop the trade.
“Luka’s moved on,” Kidd said. “And we’ve moved on. He’s playing extremely well. He’s leading the league in scoring. He has his team in the hunt. For that, we wish him the best. That’s the business of basketball, you’ve got to move forward.”
Doncic opened this season playing MVP-caliber basketball, leading the Lakers to a 15-4 record. Currently, the Lakers are in fifth place in the very crowded Western Conference with a record of 27-17, which is pretty impressive considering LeBron James missed the first 14 games of the season because of sciatica and Austin Reaves has missed the last month because of a calf strain.
Meanwhile, ever since dealing Doncic for Anthony Davis, the Mavericks have been in a tailspin. Injuries to Davis and Kyrie Irving have derailed the franchise. Despite getting Cooper Flagg with the No. 1 pick last year, Dallas is in 12th place in the West at 19-27.
Despite the Mavericks issues, Dallas fans let it be known how much Doncic means to them by commuting to the arena amid a severe winter storm that was expected to bring two to three inches of sleet to the area.
“That was really special,” Doncic said. “I didn’t know what to expect before because I know how the city gets when the weather is this bad. But I really appreciate a lot of people showing up.”
Doncic reciprocated the love, surprising 22 fans who supported him on social media with a suite, a pregame meet-and-greet and gift bags with his jersey and signature shoe.
“That was something that was special for me to do,” Doncic said. “I see what a lot of them did on social media and after I got traded, how much support they gave me. Obviously, there’s a lot more fans than that, but I could only fit 22 of them. “
For Doncic, Dallas will always be the place where his professional career began, where he spent seven years, where he became one of the top players in the NBA.
But now, he’s able to look forward.
And with the Lakers, he has a very bright future.
