LUKA DONCIC PULLED his blue ’68 Camaro into the American Airlines Center parking garage and reached into the passenger seat to grab his brand-new cowboy hat. It was Dec. 25, 2022.

Doncic put on the black hat as he emerged from his classic hot rod, the finishing touch on an outfit that served as a proverbial tip of the cap to his adopted home state. He sported a black, western cut button-down shirt with a bolo tie, some Wrangler jeans and even a pair of Lucchese boots. He looked like a true Texan from head to toe.

“Howdy, howdy,” Doncic greeted folks with a grin while making his way into the arena.

It was a big day for the Dallas Mavericks, who were hosting LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in ABC’s afternoon showcase. Doncic had arrived at the arena especially early so he could watch as the statue of his friend and former teammate, Dirk Nowitzki, was unveiled, standing a skip pass away from the street named after the German star who made Dallas his second home and led the Mavericks to the franchise’s lone NBA championship.

“Loyalty never fades away,” read the inscription on the base of the 23-foot statue depicting Nowitzki’s signature one-legged shot. The 21 letters succinctly capture the essence of Nowitzki’s record-setting 21-year run in a Mavericks uniform — and the unbreakable bond between the icon and his lone franchise.

It was an inspiration for Doncic, who envisioned his career unfolding in similar fashion — although not necessarily as long as Nowitzki’s. The good vibes continued throughout the game, as Doncic had a performance that was typical by his lofty standards (32 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists) while leading the Mavs to a win over the Lakers, who were missing James’ co-star Anthony Davis because of a foot injury.

Doncic changed his attire postgame — putting on a pair of Jordan sweats displaying his personal logo — but remained in character. He playfully claimed during his media availability that he had a “horny toad” as a pet.

“‘Cause I’m Texan,” Doncic quickly quipped. He smiled and shrugged.

On Feb. 1, 2025, some 25 months later, the Mavs’ social media accounts showed a video of Doncic’s western-wear walk into the arena a few Christmases ago to celebrate a little-known holiday. “Happy National Texas Day, y’all,” the Instagram caption stated, punctuated with the cowboy-hat-sporting smiley face emoji.

Hours later, before the clock struck midnight in Dallas, Mavs general manager Nico Harrison and the team agreed to one of the most shocking trades in NBA history. Doncic was being sent to the Lakers, only months after leading the Mavs to the NBA Finals, in return for a package headlined by Davis.

It’s a decision, team sources told ESPN, that probably will cost the franchise nine figures over the next several years, as the Mavs are projected to lose dozens of millions in revenue this season due to dwindling crowds, plummeting merchandise sales and sponsors severing ties with the franchise in the wake of the trade. So many fans canceled season tickets in the days after the trade that the Mavs attempted to generate some goodwill by offering limited refunds.

The franchise plans to play a tribute video for Doncic, sources said, providing fans in the arena a final opportunity to savor all of his accomplishments in a Mavs uniform — and mourn not getting more. Team sources told ESPN that the Mavs had also lined up lucrative sponsorship deals for Wednesday’s game, with multiple companies that Doncic endorses, but those deals fell apart after Doncic’s camp declined to give its blessing, pointedly noting that he now plays for the Lakers.

Now, as a lot of lifelong Mavs fans are questioning their loyalty to the franchise, Doncic is returning to Dallas for the first time in a Lakers uniform (7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN). His initial appearance as a visitor at the American Airlines Center will be a surreal celebration of Doncic’s spectacular 6½ seasons in a Mavs uniform, marred by agony and bitterness that it didn’t last any longer.

“At the end of the day, the trade has happened,” Mavs forward P.J. Washington said after a March 16 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, one of multiple games in which Dallas had only the league-minimum eight available players. “We understand we have a new team now. All that ‘Fire Nico’ stuff, we’re sick and tired of hearing it. We just want to go out there and play, and we need the fans to support us, no matter who’s on the floor. That’s just how I feel about it.”

HARRISON MADE A point to keep the trade talks involving Doncic top secret for several reasons. One of those was because he didn’t want fan backlash to factor into the franchise’s decision-making.

Harrison ultimately convinced Mavs governor Patrick Dumont, the front man for the family that bought the majority share of the franchise from Mark Cuban last season, that signing Doncic to a five-year, $345 million supermax extension this summer would be a poor investment, primarily due to the belief that the superstar’s body would break down because of his perceived lackadaisical approach to conditioning.

“If we lost any of our fans’ trust, it was hard and I apologize,” Dumont said during a Bank of Texas Speaker Series event in Dallas on Feb. 13. “But I hope over time we can regain that trust through hard work. And that’s our plan. And hopefully people will believe in the long run that what we did was the right decision. Time will tell.”

The Mavs gave up a generational talent still approaching what should be his prime years to create a three- to four-year window as a title contender. That was the timeframe that Harrison laid out to a small group of Dallas-based reporters when he joined the first half of coach Jason Kidd’s pregame media session Feb. 2 in Cleveland. It’s the only time the Mavs’ GM has been made available to reporters since making the deal that sent shockwaves across the league.

And that three- to four-year window got shorter almost immediately.

Davis, who was recovering from an abdominal strain at the time of the trade and sat out his first two games after joining the Mavericks, dominated the first half of his Feb. 8 debut with the franchise, putting up 24 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks by the break. But he sustained a strained left adductor in the third quarter, an injury that sidelined him for the next six weeks.

Kyrie Irving, the co-star on last season’s Finals team whose shot-creating skills became even more critical after Doncic’s sudden departure, sustained a torn ACL in his left knee on March 3, an injury likely to sideline him into next season. The two All-Stars, players the former Nike executive Harrison has known since they were teens and targeted in his biggest blockbuster trades as Mavs GM, shared the court for only 25 minutes as Mavericks this season.

Davis and centers Daniel Gafford (sprained MCL in his right knee) and Dereck Lively II (stress fracture in his right ankle) all recently returned from extended injury absences. They continue to be on minutes restrictions as the Mavs fight for the Western Conference’s ninth seed and the right to host a play-in game — a far cry from contending status.

“We’re missing Kai, so we’ll never know how good we really can be,” Davis said, acknowledging the painfully obvious.

Nevertheless, Davis insisted on playing down the stretch of the regular season, resisting advice from some within the organization to shut it down. He refuses to give up hope of making a playoff run, as much as the odds are stacked against the Mavs. No team has ever emerged from the 9/10 play-in game to win a playoff series.

“We can’t play, what if?” Davis said. “You get nothing out of it. We play present basketball. Whatever’s in front of us, whoever we got on the floor, whoever we got active to play, that’s what we can count on and that’s who we can roll with.”

Meanwhile, Doncic has the Lakers looking like contenders again. L.A. was in fifth in the West, just three games ahead of the Mavericks when the trade was made. The Lakers will roll into Dallas third in the West, coming off a loss in Oklahoma City in which Doncic was ejected, as he continues to get comfortable after joining a new franchise following the longest injury layoff of his career.

“I know it’s been two months or something, but still adapting a little bit,” Doncic, who is averaging 27.7 points, 8.3 rebounds and 7.8 assists for the Lakers, said recently. “It was a big change. But it’s getting better.”

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Mavs GM: Owner laughed when told idea of Luka trade

Mavericks’ general manager Nico Harrison breaks down owner’s reaction to trading Luka Doncic.

NOWITZKI WAS SO stunned by the trade that he skipped a family lunch on his final day of vacation in Maldives, sitting in his hotel room for an hour “trying to figure out it was real,” as he said in German recently on the Campus 41 podcast with his sister, Silke. Nowitzki flew to Los Angeles for Doncic’s Lakers debut in a sign of strong public support for his former teammate.

“I will always be a Mavs fan, but this trade really hurt,” Nowitzki said, according to a translation by the European website basketnews.com. “And it will take a while before everyone processes it and moves on.”

Doncic said he was emotionally devastated in the immediate aftermath of the trade, which occurred as the Slovenian superstar was in the process of closing on what he anticipated would be his American forever home in Dallas’ Preston Hollow neighborhood.

“Dallas was my home for seven years, almost seven years,” Doncic said more than six weeks after the trade. “It really felt like home.”

Mavs fans instantly developed an emotional attachment to Doncic after he arrived from Europe as a teenager just in time to take the torch from Nowitzki. Doncic’s entertaining, gunslinger-style of play — from the breathtaking highlights to barking at opponents — further endeared him to the fan base.

“Every night he’d always give you one of those, ‘Oh s—!’ moments,” said Jeremy Williams, a 47-year-old who works in the construction business and has had tickets in the top row of the upper deck since Nowitzki’s first playoff appearance in 2001, moving with the franchise from Reunion Arena to the American Airlines Center. “You call your buddies and say, ‘Did you see that?!’ Or you’d call your son into the room and wind it back.”

Nowitzki might be the most beloved athlete in football-wild Dallas’ sports history. Doncic was on that type of trajectory. Despite his flaws, such as weight fluctuations and frequent ranting at referees, most of his fans are either fiercely protective or forgiving.

“It sounds ridiculous to think of it in these terms, but there’s kind of the real hero’s journey, the literary element of a guy figuring it out,” said Kirk Henderson, the managing editor of Mavs Moneyball, a blog that covers the franchise from the perspective of the fans. “He’s very clearly special, but [Mavs fans missed watching him] being able to put the pieces together and become something even more. That’s the part that I think I’m most sad about over the long run.”

The Mavs’ fan base was blindsided and heartbroken by Harrison’s decision. The deal prompted protests in the shadow of Nowitzki’s statue the next morning, and again before the next home game a week later.

“We’ve always had either Dirk or Luka to give us a tremendous amount of joy and excitement,” Williams said. “I’ve been fighting through the ol’ stages of grief. I went through the shock and the anger and the denial like everybody else. I guess I’m still in denial.”

The Mavs’ fan base, by and large, harbors no ill will toward Davis, a surefire future Hall of Famer who made the NBA’s 75th anniversary team. It isn’t the same as rooting for a homegrown franchise player who had become entrenched in the city’s identity, and “Fire Nico” chants have randomly broken out at a variety of local events, from St. Patrick’s Day parades to Texas Rangers games.

Variations of Doncic’s No. 77 — from his Dallas tenure, the Slovenian national team and now even the Lakers — still outnumber all other jerseys combined in the Mavs’ home crowds. Williams estimates that he has bought 15 to 20 Doncic jerseys over the years for his 12-year-old son, Ryan, and himself.

“It makes me sad to look in my closet and see them,” Williams said.

Unlike many fans, Williams won’t wear one of those jerseys to Wednesday’s game. Nor will he wear the T-shirt he recently purchased that looks like Doncic’s Lakers jersey but has “LUKARS” across the chest.

Instead, Williams plans to wear a green T-shirt with a blunt message — “NICO SUCKS” — expressed in blue letters on the front. He’s well-aware that arena security has ejected fans for wearing similar T-shirts, classifying them as violations of the NBA’s fan code of conduct.

“I think it’ll be too overwhelming for them to kick people out, but if they decide to do it, that’ll be my first time getting kicked out in [45] years of going to games,” Williams said. “So I’ll gladly wear that one with pride.”

Williams draws the line at buying a Lakers No. 77 jersey. He doesn’t begrudge longtime Mavs fans who are following Doncic and adopting the Lakers, but he just can’t cross that line.

“Had he gone to Orlando or you name it, there may be a shred of a chance that I root for a different team,” Williams said. “But given it’s Lakers and my lifetime Mavs loyalty, I’m not going to go that far. I still ultimately root for the name on the front of the jersey, not the back, but that doesn’t really help ease the pain.

“I just can’t root for anybody on the Lakers.”

ESPN’s Dave McMenamin contributed to this report.