Luka Doncic emerged victorious in his first game against the Dallas Mavericks, as the Los Angeles Lakers won 107-99 at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday. Doncic would have gone through a whirlwind of emotions during the contest and shared his thoughts on playing against his former team in his postgame press conference.
Reporter: “Luka, how did you handle the emotions of the day, playing against your former team?”
Luka Doncic: “I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t know. It’s just so weird, the moments. Felt like I don’t know what I was doing, and I’m glad we got the win.”
Reporter: “Luka, JJ’s (Redick) talked about the blackout episodes, and midway through the first quarter, you hit those back-to-back threes. They take one way but kind of turn and-“
Doncic: “How is that even possible?”
Reporter: “You turn and let out that roar, and it seemed like you were kind of hyping yourself up. JJ said he felt you were kind of going through it in the first few minutes of the game, and then you started to stabilize a bit. What was going through your head at that point?”
Doncic: “Honestly, I can’t remember. It was just a lot of emotions. Not much sleep. I can’t even explain what. It was a different game. Like I said, sometimes I don’t know what I was doing, and I’m just glad it’s over, honestly.”
Reporter: “Luka, obviously the emotions and stuff from the trade and the seven years you’ve spent in Dallas aren’t going to be undone in a night. But does playing them and being able to kind of put at least a tiny bow on it, does that help you, or do you think that will help you as you move ahead now that this is out of the way?”
Doncic: “Yeah, definitely will help me, I think. Like I said, I’m glad this game is over and just a little bit like you said, it’s definitely going to help in the long process.”
While Doncic was willing to speak at length on various topics, he wasn’t too keen on speaking about Mavericks GM Nico Harrison. Harrison was at the game, and the Slovenian gave quite a cold answer when asked about the executive.
Reporter: “Two-part question. One, I don’t know if you saw Nico Harrison was there on the court when you were warming up and then sitting right behind the Mavericks bench. If you thought about going over to him or saying anything to him at all? And then the second part is, have you ever had anything like this trade happen to you in your life? Whether, I don’t know, a breakup or something like that? Have you ever had anything like this experience?”
Doncic: “No, definitely not. That was different. I definitely didn’t have like that. But yeah, I didn’t see him at warmups.”
Doncic later reiterated that he didn’t see Harrison during warmups. You’d like to take him on his word there, but it would have been hard for him to miss the executive with how close they were on the court at one point.
Mavericks GM Nico Harrison watches Lakers’ Luka Doncic warm up in Los Angeles pic.twitter.com/Z1gfGnzmnP
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) February 26, 2025
Harrison could also be seen in the background when Doncic did push-ups on the court after missing a half-court shot, so he was around for a while.
Luka hitting pushups with Nico Harrison in the background 👀
(via @ArashMarkazi)pic.twitter.com/1O9edEh4qZ
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) February 26, 2025
You can’t blame Doncic for not being interested in having any sort of conversation with Harrison. The five-time All-Star would have felt like he was stabbed in the back when he got traded, and Harrison certainly shouldn’t ever expect to receive a Christmas card from the Slovenian.
It should also be pointed out that Doncic doing push-ups on the court is nothing new, and he wasn’t trying to send some sort of message or get pumped up. The 25-year-old has been doing push-ups when he misses a half-court shot during warmups for years. If he does make the shot, then the assistant coaches are the ones who have to do it.
Getting back to the game, Doncic had 19 points (6-17 FG), 15 rebounds, 12 assists, three steals, and two blocks against the Mavericks. It wasn’t quite the monstrous outing many expected, but it was still a pretty good performance.
This win over the Mavericks was the third in a row for the Lakers, and they have now improved to 35-21 this season. The Lakers will now look to make it four on the spin when they take on the Minnesota Timberwolves at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday at 10:30 PM ET.
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