{"id":556626,"date":"2026-01-24T00:37:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T00:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/556626\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T00:37:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T00:37:14","slug":"why-luka-doncics-latest-return-to-dallas-shouldnt-be-as-emotional-as-the-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/556626\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Luka Doncic\u2019s latest return to Dallas shouldn\u2019t be as emotional as the first time"},"content":{"rendered":"

The image of an emotional Luka Doncic fighting tears from falling down his face<\/a> while watching his tribute video is a lasting memory from his first game at American Airlines Center<\/a> as an opponent.<\/p>\n

What soon followed was a reminder of the former Maverick\u2019s offensive talent<\/a>. Doncic dropped 45 points against his former team and was cheered by MFFLs as if he still had \u201cDallas\u201d written across the front of his jersey.<\/p>\n

Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers will visit AAC for the second time since last season\u2019s midseason trade<\/a> to play against the surging Mavericks on Saturday night, despite a looming winter storm descending upon North Texas.<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Mavericks revealed Friday afternoon that the game will be played as scheduled<\/a>, which sets the stage for another showdown with Doncic, who is 3-0 against his old team in the regular season since he was acquired by the Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis and Max Christie.<\/p>\n

It shouldn\u2019t be nearly as emotional a game as it was on April 9, 2025, but Doncic admitted he\u2019ll always have a special connection to his first NBA city.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, it\u2019s always going to feel like home there,\u201d Doncic told reporters Thursday after the Lakers lost to the LA Clippers. \u201cBut like I said, I needed that game to move on a little bit. But obviously, I\u2019ll always appreciate those fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thousands of fans are expected to weather the storm to see Doncic return to the arena where he spent the first 6\u00bd years of his career. Earlier this week, Doncic earned his sixth All-Star appearance<\/a>, and he leads the NBA in scoring with 33.4 points per game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really hard to stop Luka,\u201d Mavericks coach Jason Kidd<\/a> said. \u201cHe\u2019s doing everything to help his team win. You just try to make it tough. Try to make him work on the defensive end and then hopefully, he doesn\u2019t make a big shot, but he loves the stage. He always delivers when they need a shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Based on his last scoring explosion at AAC, it\u2019s natural to expect Doncic will be motivated to produce a similar performance Saturday. Perhaps no opponent is more familiar with what Doncic is capable of than his former teammates. Mavericks forward Naji Marshall said he\u2019s excited about the matchup against his old pal.<\/p>\n

\u201cY\u2019all seen Luka throughout the years. Y\u2019all know he gets up for moments like this,\u201d Marshall said. \u201cYou know what time he\u2019s on. So it\u2019s on us to do the best we can to come out with a victory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marshall is coming off one of his best games of the season. He led the Mavericks to their fourth straight win<\/a> with a season-high 30 points, seven rebounds and nine assists against the Golden State Warriors.<\/p>\n

The Mavericks (19-26) will try to make it five against the Lakers (26-17), who had impressive wins this week over the New York Knicks and Warriors. Daniel Gafford practiced Friday and Kidd said he\u2019ll be \u201cready to go\u201d Saturday, marking his return from a four-game absence following another reaggravation of his lingering right ankle sprain.<\/p>\n

Dallas has relied on Marshall, Max Christie and Cooper Flagg<\/a> to shoulder the load on offense, which has improved over the last 10 games.<\/p>\n

Christie has quickly turned into one of the best 3-point shooters in the NBA.<\/a> He\u2019s averaging 23 points and shooting a scorching 57% from beyond the arc over the last three games. The fourth-year guard has become a pleasant surprise for the Mavericks after last season\u2019s blockbuster trade built around acquiring Davis, who is sidelined for multiple weeks with a left hand sprain.<\/a><\/p>\n

Christie has played against his former team four times, including a preseason matchup in Las Vegas this season, and said it doesn\u2019t inspire an emotional response.<\/p>\n

\u201cNah, that ship has sailed,\u201d Christie said. \u201cNo extra emotions. It\u2019s going to be fun to see my old coaching staff and old teammates, but it\u2019s just another game.\u201d<\/p>\n

It felt like just another game in Los Angeles on Nov. 28, when Doncic had a double-double of 35 points with 11 assists <\/a>to lead the Lakers to a 129-119 win. <\/p>\n

But the game will always mean more in Dallas, given the circumstances of Doncic\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n

Even the NBA billed games played from Tuesday through Saturday as Rivals Week, with the intention of featuring classic and budding rivalries among teams and players. <\/p>\n

Kidd was asked this week what he considers a rivalry.<\/p>\n

\u201cA fight,\u201d he joked. \u201cBut no, the history. Some other things that have taken place here in the past probably will help with that. Looking at the Warriors as a rival, maybe because of the [Klay Thompson] trade. They\u2019ve won quite a few championships and we\u2019re trying to get there. <\/p>\n

\u201cThen with the Lakers, another trade probably is looked upon as making it a rivalry. We\u2019re pulling very hard to make it a rival, but teams are in different places. For us, we\u2019re just focused on ourselves. We\u2019ll let the NBA deal with the rivals stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marshall played with Doncic for only half of a season, 17 games to be specific, because the former Mavericks superstar suffered a left calf strain on Christmas Day of last season \u2014 his final game as a Maverick. Still it was enough time for the two to build a friendship that endures as competitors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love playing against Luka. That\u2019s my guy,\u201d Marshall said. \u201cMiss him dearly. He\u2019s doing his thing. I know it\u2019s gonna be loud and packed. Everybody\u2019s gonna want to see Luka, and just to be able to share the floor with Luka is a true blessing. That\u2019s my brother and I know he\u2019s on the opposite team and we want to win, but I just want to see the best happen for him throughout the rest of his career.\u201d<\/p>\n

X: @MikeACurtis2<\/a><\/p>\n

Find more Mavericks coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The image of an emotional Luka Doncic fighting tears from falling down his face while watching his tribute…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3793],"tags":[6071,1297,7,225,686,149,4057,3716,368,166,6,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-556626","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-mavericks","8":"tag-american-airlines-center","9":"tag-article","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-cooper-flagg","12":"tag-dallas","13":"tag-dallas-mavericks","14":"tag-dallasmavericks","15":"tag-jason-kidd","16":"tag-luka-doncic","17":"tag-mavericks","18":"tag-nba","19":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115947284438232337","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}