The Los Angeles Lakers are set to host the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night, and it will mark the first time that Luka Doncic faces his old team since the shocking trade that saw Anthony Davis head the other way. Ahead of the highly-anticipated matchup, footage of Doncic practicing with the Lakers went viral.
Luka Doncic having fun at practice ahead of the Lakers-Mavs matchup on Tuesday
(via @swishcultures_)pic.twitter.com/9v7QMYENOJ
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) February 25, 2025
The Mavericks’ trade of Luka Doncic to the Lakers was a controversial one, as the franchise essentially gave up the face of their team, a player they could have built around for the next decade or so. Instead, Nico Harrison decided that bringing in Anthony Davis to pair with Kyrie Irving was a better fit to try to win the NBA title for the Mavericks in the near future, whether that be this year or in the next few years. Now, Davis is dealing with an injury, and the Mavericks are essentially trying to just tread water, which takes some of the luster out of this matchup, as it would have been his return to Los Angeles as well.
With the game being in Los Angeles, it will not be Doncic’s return to his old home arena. It will still be interesting to see how he performs, and if there is seemingly some extra motivation on his part to perform well against his old team.
Doncic is coming off of what was likely his best game as a member of the Lakers, scoring 32 points on 10-of-22 shooting from the field and 4-of-9 from three. He also added 10 rebounds and seven assists in the game, helping the Lakers win 123-100 over the Denver Nuggets.
Coming into the matchup, the Lakers sit at 34-21 overall, tied for the fourth seed in the Western Conference with the Houston Rockets. Los Angeles would like to try to chase down the Nuggets and Memphis Grizzlies to get as high as the two seed in the playoffs. The Mavericks are 31-27 and would like to close the regular season strong and avoid the play-in.
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