Sports are only as important to even the most hardcore fans as the investment we have in them.
The Dallas Mavericks tested that theory back in early February when they traded franchise linchpin and Slovenian wonder boy Luka Doncic.
Doncic was only 25 years old and had yet to enter his athletic prime, most considered to be athletes late 20s. Despite that, he had led the Mavericks to the NBA Finals the previous season and even though the team lost, it was more a failure of losing to a better team overall in the Boston Celtics.
Individually, Doncic had already become consistently one of the five best players in the whole league. He was named to five straight all-star teams and was first team all-NBA five straight times. He also had been in the running for the league’s most valuable player award during all those seasons as well.
Doncic came to the Mavericks in 2018 during a time when the franchise was missing the playoffs the previous two seasons and longtime centerpiece Dirk Nowitzki was entering his final season after playing for more than 20 years.
Luka was the most accomplished European draft prospect ever, having helped his former club win the league title and being named league MVP despite being just 19 years old.
He instantly became the most important player on the team and the franchise started to build around him and his strengths. It was also a passing of the torch moment that season. Nowitzki, playing his last season, was the most accomplished European player in league history and now the franchise would be in the hands of the new European wonder kid who was finding his footing way faster than anyone could have hoped.
During his first six and half seasons with the team, the Mavericks made the playoffs four times, advanced to the conference finals once and the NBA finals just the previous season. On top of that, Luka was one of the most popular players in the league, almost purely for his on court wizardry.
Not being your typical short point guard, Luka represented the big, forward sized playmaker every team would love to have. Teams with Doncic running the offense was almost guaranteed to be good with him running the show even if his teammates could do little more than make open shots and little else.
Unfortunately, with him playing on the biggest stage in recent years, some of his warts started to bug some fans. He would get very fiery and winey when referees would not call fouls for him. His lack of elite athleticism, his biggest weakness, prevented him from ever being as great on defense as he was on offense.
With his big role as the offense playmaker, his effort was up and down on that end of the court. Also, while he had great size for his position, his body type was a bit more doughy than the prototypical NBA star and fans heard stories he did not take his conditioning seriously.
Despite all of that, fans and league pundits figured those flaws were not enough to get in the way of Doncic eventually leading a team to the NBA title one day as their centerpiece.
A lot of times in league history, teams and players have to go through heart break before breaking through to be champions. After failing the previous season, the team retooled with a few new signings and it looked like the Mavericks had a good chance to compete for the title again if health was good.
While the that was up and down the first two months, Dallas was trending in the right direction with a 19-11 record when it played on Christmas day. Doncic went down with a calf strain. Little did anyone know that would be the last time anyone would see him play for the Mavericks.
Late at night on Feb. 1, it was reported Dallas had traded him to the Los Angeles Lakers. Most fans thought the reporter had gotten hacked. No one in the league had even known the Mavericks were thinking about trading him.
No star NBA player in league history had ever been traded so out of nowhere before. Usually, it was triggered by the player themselves, asking/demanding to be traded to somewhere else.
Also, when a big star is traded, the process can usually take several months or even a whole season so the franchise can try to get the best return among the 29 other teams.
This time, it was a secret meeting between two teams meeting for about a month. The big name in the return for Luka was Anthony Davis, a star player who had helped the Lakers win the title in 2020 playing second fiddle to Lebron James, but was widely considered not on Doncic’s level.
On top of that, Davis was 31 years old and had a long history of getting hurt. While the team was mostly built around older players, with Luka still being in his mid 20s, it was thought the team could still build around him in the future even when this current roster aged out in two to three years. Now, when this roster would eventually age out, the future looked bleak because Dallas also got traded back only one draft pick when lesser players had gotten three to four future picks in other deals.
General manager Nico Harrison tried to justify the trade, saying Davis was more of a defensive player he wanted the team to be built around. Stories came out how the Mavericks were not happy with Luka’s conditioning entering the season. His injury on Christmas was thought by Harrison to be just the first in a long physical downfall in the second half of Doncic’s career since Harrison felt he did not have good habits taking care of his body.
Maverick fans were apoplectic. Here is a player we had fallen in love with, watched grown up from a teenager to a young man, go through ups and downs and lead the team to the NBA finals. Despite all of the success, the best was still to come we thought. Luka was so good, it was thought it was a matter when and not if he would win a title.
It didn’t help Davis immediately got hurt in his first game with the team, even though he played great. More key players went down, including the team’s second best player Kyrie Irving, who had to step up his role filling Doncic’s shoes as the team’s lead playmaker with him gone.
The story from games were more about the fans reaction than what was happening on the court. Fans would chant, “Fire Nico” at impromptu times during games, with signs T-Shirts made that got fans kicked out.
A shrine of sorts was made at the foot of Nowitzki’s statue in front of the arena, exemplified by someone bringing a coffin, since many thought a Luka statue would eventually be erected one day as well.
It culminated with Luka with the Lakers coming back in April. Doncic was adamant from his point of view he wanted to stay in Dallas and was surprised by the trade. He visibly cried from the fans reaction during his intro which also included a touching tribute video. He then went on to torch the Mavericks for 45 points all while Dallas fans cheered him at every turn despite him now playing for another team. The night was punctuated by more “Fire Nico” chants and many fans felt like it was the end of their fandom for the Mavericks.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.