This Luka Doncic trait kills any chance of a dream Mavericks return

The dust has finally settled, and the Dallas Mavericks are looking to shake up the world. Again. Fans in Dallas hope, with Nico Harrison’s regime now a distant memory, that somehow, someway, they will be able to lure Luka Doncic back into the fold like a prodigal son.

Unfortunately, the odds of that happening are slim at best, for the same reason that Dallas fans first fell in love with the young basketball prodigy. He’s loyal. And that loyalty was not reciprocated by the Mavs, and now Doncic is being mesmerized by the glitz and glamour of LA and Hollywood’s finest. 

Emotions aside, having Doncic on the Lakers is a dream scenario for commissioner Adam Silver and the NBA. The league is constantly trying to further its global reach, and having Doncic, a former EuroLeague MVP, showcased in their second biggest market couldn’t have worked out any better. 

But I can’t help thinking what if….

Luka Doncic's loyalty now belongs to Los Angeles

See, Mark Cuban had created the perfect basketball ecosystem for Doncic by allowing Dirk Nowitzki to mentor him on and off the floor. They only played 42 games together in the 2018-2019 season before Nowitzki retired. But Doncic was able to see how Nowitzki was idolized across the league for bringing Dallas their lone championship banner and also staying with one team for his entire career. Nowitzki provided the blueprint, and a young and impressionable Doncic was eager to follow in his footsteps. So he thought.

I could see the writing on the wall after Dallas lost 4-1 in the NBA Finals to the Boston Celtics. The half-hearted and hobbled defense. The constant bickering with the referees after every other possession. But I think the most telling sign was when Michael Finley embarrassed Doncic on national television by grabbing a beer out of his hand during Dallas’ postgame celebration after clinching the 2024 Western Conference Championship. I knew the clock was ticking then. But I think Doncic was too naive to see the foreshadowing of his own demise.

Part of me feels like Dallas’ front office jumped the gun (just like they did when they let Steve Nash go). But Dallas’ front office had had enough. It wasn’t just Harrison. Owner Patrick Dumont gave his blessing to send Doncic to Tinseltown. There were whispers around the league that Doncic would never reach his full potential with his current work ethic.

The trade to the Lakers could have been a blessing in disguise. But now Dallas wants to reap the benefits of Doncic’s wake-up call and rededication to fitness. Why should the Lakers get to enjoy skinny Luka and the sweat equity that Dallas invested for years?

But now, both sides have new scars that make it hard to trust. Dallas’ ownership is trying to regain the faith of its fans. And Doncic is trying to regain his basketball joy in a new city after signing a new three-year extension for $165 million with the Lakers earlier this year. It’s bittersweet because Doncic was eager to sign the five-year supermax for $345 million before he got his heart ripped out. Now he knows the NBA is a business.

Sadly, Doncic may always be that one that got away. He feels like a jilted lover. And maybe rightfully so. Marriages are meant to be for better or worse. And Doncic’s camp felt that Dallas bailed on him at the first sign of turbulence. The Lakers are keen not to make the same mistake and are pulling out all the stops to keep Doncic as their franchise player for the next decade.

Harrison gambled. And the entire city of Dallas inherited the debt. Cooper Flagg has tremendous upside. But Doncic was a sure thing. He was the box office by himself. He didn’t need Hollywood. He put people in seats. And he could win a series by himself when he was on his A game. Ask Devin Booker.

I’ve been around long enough to remember when a 28-year-old Dirk Nowitzki's top-seeded Mavs team lost to the infamous “We Believe Warriors” eighth seed in the first round back in 2007. I remember Nowitzki was considered the poster boy for Europeans being too soft for the NBA. And that he would never get over the hump. Four years later, he embarked on arguably the greatest finals run in NBA history to capture Dallas’ first-ever NBA title in 2011. The redemption was sweet.

Doncic never got the chance to make amends for his failures here in Dallas. It would be poetic justice if somehow, someway, things came full circle. But that type of happy ending may only happen in the movies.

Mavericks fans will always admire the loyalty that Doncic showed the city over his first six and a half seasons in the NBA. Unfortunately for Dallas, he will likely show the same loyalty that he showed the Mavericks right back to the Lakers.

And that's what will keep the Mavs from pulling off the unthinkable and bringing him home.