WHY FANS SHOULD WORRY ABOUT OWNERS WHEN LUKA DONCIC SCORES 45 IN DALLAS
He cried all night as the Lakers throttled the Mavericks, who have no future after trading him — as fans chanted “Fire Nico!” and waved “Sell the team” signs while he prepares for a rousing postseason
The tears were so thick, in both eyes, that Luka Doncic kept grabbing a towel to wipe off his face. Why, again, was he traded two months ago in a flesh-staggering maneuver? Will we always ask the same question? Wasn’t this a landmark moment for fans to ask why they spend money, pledge emotions and donate hearts to a sports team?
His mouth was quivering as a video tribute played in his old building, American Airlines Center in Dallas. Then the angry crowd shouted a familiar chant at the general manager who dealt Doncic after six of the most splendid launching seasons in NBA history: “Fire Nico!” Standing in a tunnel, near a security man, Nico Harrison watched the homecoming of Doncic after “culture” and “character” were mentioned as reasons for dumping him.
Culture and character? Or greed and control of locals who adored him? Didn’t Harrison notice the “Sell the team” signs throughout the arena?
Isn’t this the continued glamorization of the Los Angeles Lakers and the downfall of a dusty team that didn’t want the savior? Didn’t Doncic pound home the blessed point with an exquisite night, scoring 31 points in the first half — 6 of 8 from beyond the three-point line — and ending with 45 in a 112-97 victory? He cried before the game, cried in the first quarter and cried in the second quarter before realizing he must smile.
Why not? It will be the first of many times he proves the Mavericks wrong. He was too heavy after beer runs and hookah excursions, they claimed. He was sidelined with too many calf strains. He reached the Finals but was told to stop drinking a brewski after a game. Harrison and his boss, Patrick Dumont, decided he lacked the dedication to win championships. The previous owner, Mark Cuban, almost burned down the arena when Doncic was sent away for a talented but aging big man, Anthony Davis. Even Cuban must chuckle as Luka stars in a new Gatorade commercial — with TRAITOR on a towel.
“NO LOVE LOST. ONLY SWEAT,” came the catchphrase.
“They have no idea,” Doncic said of Dumont, Harrison and the critics. “I didn’t end up here by mistake. You know? I worked my ass off to be here. So it’s kinda, I would say disrespectful, just sad that people say that.”
How did he feel after taking over Dallas for another night? “After the video, I was like, ‘There was no way I was playing this game.’ But all my teammates had my back,” Doncic said. “I love these fans. I love the city. So many emotions brought tears to my eyes. I was a young kid when I arrived. They made me feel like home. The support was unbelievable.”
The passion burst when he returned to north Texas for the first time since the trade. Never has a reappearance been more wrapped in romance for an athlete and hatred for the franchise that discarded him. The Mavericks aired the tribute and handed out t-shirts — “Hvala za vse” — which means “Thank you for everything” in Slovenian. It was a little late for Dumont to make nice after belittling Doncic with words. He made his old team pay, of course, leading to more howls of pain and laughter in the stands.
Cuban hugged him. So did Patrick Mahomes. So did his current and past teammates. The fans gave him a standing ovation at the end and chanted, yes, “Fire Nico!”
He wore a purple uniform and pink shoes and drove downtown in a monster truck. He always called himself “a Texan” and once said “howdy, howdy” to folks in his Wranglers. Remember, Doncic never wanted to leave. He was told to scram as Dumont and the team owner, mother-in-law Miriam Adelson, preferred a new direction when her net worth is $32.3 billion. Chances are, the path will involve casinos, if not in Dallas then in Las Vegas. The family didn’t want to spend $345 million for Doncic’s supermax contract over five years. The Lakers will pay less, assuming he stays, at $229 million for four years — or a shorter-team deal leading to $420 million down the road. If Adelson and Dumont aren’t interested in paying up, the fans will stay away.
In Los Angeles, they have another statue in waiting as LeBron James is 40. The Lakers will stir energy in the Western Conference playoffs while the Mavericks stumble in as the 10th seed. His mates have supported Doncic through every step of his transition.
“We got your back,” coach JJ Redick said.
“He had no choice in the matter,” said James, reminding us that he did have a choice when Cleveland turned on him almost 15 years ago.
“Talking about closure is sometimes hard because I spent a lot of time here and had some great moments,” Doncic said. “It’s getting more and more, and I have to focus on different things now.”
The day already was looking good when the league rescinded a technical foul against Doncic. Tuesday night, he was ejected in Oklahoma City after he trash-talked a fan — the referee, J.T. Orr, mistakenly thought Doncic was trashing him and threw him out with a second technical. The Lakers were leading the Thunder and fell apart without him. “I never got a fan ejected. Never,” Doncic said of his in-game dealings. “But if (the fan is) going to talk, I'm going to talk back, like always. That had nothing to do with the ref. So I didn't really understand.”
This was a watershed moment in sports. Jason Kidd, the Dallas coach, tried to claim his franchise had every right to make the trade. “This is a business. It happens,” he said. “Some have compared it to Babe Ruth, which is kind of cool.”
Babe Ruth? He was traded from Boston to the Yankees in 1920. The Red Sox, riddled by the Curse of the Bambino, didn’t win a World Series until 2004 while the Yankees have won 27 championships. Do the math for the Lakers.
And the Mavericks? They’re looking at 2109.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.