Mavericks' biggest mistake in trading Luka Doncic is about to blow up in their face

The day has finally come. After trading franchise superstar Luka Doncic late in the evening on February 1, the Dallas Mavericks are set to take on  Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers on the road in what will be the first matchup between the two squads since the blockbuster deal.

Doncic’s first few games with the Lakers went rough, and observers could tell that he wasn’t fully feeling himself quite yet. This could have stemmed from Doncic coming off a calf strain or the emotional wear and tear of being traded away from Dallas, and it’s more than likely it was a culmination of both factors.

However, Doncic flipped the script in his most recent contest for the Lakers versus the Denver Nuggets. In 31 minutes, Doncic had 32 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists, and four steals on 10-22 shooting from the field and 4-9 from downtown.

It was only a matter of time before Doncic had a game for the Lakers that was more emblematic of the player he was in Dallas, and Doncic is bound to return to his MVP-caliber level sooner rather than later.

Luka Doncic will come for revenge against the Mavericks

Doncic’s conditioning issues could be part of what hampered his ability to get back on the court quickly from his calf strain after multiple lower body injuries over the past few seasons. However, those issues are not reasons to justify President of Basketball Nico Harrison trading a generational superstar in Doncic, and Dallas could pay the ultimate price for this on Tuesday night.

It’s well known amongst Mavericks fans that Doncic is one of the more fiery competitors in the NBA and uses any motivation to get himself going, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see Doncic absolutely obliterate the Mavericks tonight. Loyalty is one of Doncic’s pillars, and the Mavericks and Harrison chose not to abide by that same pillar that Doncic held up for the Mavericks organization throughout the course of seven seasons.

Emotions may have a slight impact at the start of the game for Doncic tonight, but once he harnesses his killer mentality from the pain of Harrison wronging him, it wouldn’t be surprising if Doncic put up a 50-ball tonight. Doncic will be as motivated as ever seeing his former Maverick teammates on the bench, and regardless of how he plays, the game is bound to the spectacle of the NBA world tonight and inevitably should feature some very interesting moments.

Fans should be even more worried when the Lakers play the Mavericks in Dallas for the first time on April 9, as that will be the ultimate prove-it game for Doncic and plenty of Mavericks fans will likely still be cheering him on. 

Doncic has always got up for big-time moments, so fans shouldn’t have any other expectation other than that he will destroy the Mavericks tonight, and that will be a bittersweet pillow for the Mavs and their fans to swallow. Harrison is betting that Doncic’s inability to get up for smaller profile games due to conditioning issues is something that will negatively affect Doncic to a point of no return in his career, but it wouldn’t be surprising if Doncic uses that as a primary reason to get into way better shape this offseason.

Only time will tell if Harrison’s vision somehow ends up becoming correct or not, but Mavericks fans will need to prepare for the worst tonight.