Luka Dončić turns the page on Dallas and fully enters into his Lakers era

There was a wave of emotions for Luka Dončić as he faced his former team, but in the end, he had a triple-double and kept the Lakers in the win column on Tuesday.

LOS ANGELES — It may have been Game 56 of 82, but Lakers-Mavs on Tuesday was far from ordinary. There were storylines galore as it was the first meeting between the teams since the blockbuster trade that sent Luka Dončić to L.A. and Anthony Davis to Dallas.

All eyes were on Luka to see how he would react to playing against his former team. Would he have a blackout moment like he did against the Nuggets?

Was there any chance he would greet Mavs general manager Nico Harrison, the man people view as the spokesman for the trade? And, most importantly, would the Lakers win?

In the end, Luka didn’t blackout, but he did finish the night with a 19-point, 15-rebound and 12-assist triple-double, his first as a Laker.

The purple and gold beat the Mavericks 107-99.

And, despite Harrison standing on the scorer’s table during Luka’s pregame warmup, the no-look passing savant said he was unaware of his former GM’s presence.

Oftentimes, players downplay revenge games and outside motivation beyond doing a good job, but doing so on Tuesday would make one seem as out-of-touch with reality as the “This is fine” dog.

Luka was sincere and at a loss for words about his feelings postgame.

“I don’t know, honestly, it seemed so weird, the moments,” Luka said. “I felt like I didn’t know what I was doing. I’m glad we got the win.”

While Luka had a wave of emotions and went through all of them in this contest, in the opening quarter, all that was present was Luka the tyrant.

He was as demonstrative as ever, scoring inside and hitting 3-pointers. In the opening frame, he led the team in minutes, points, rebounds and assists.

He even earned a tech three minutes into the game for jawing at the officials. And, after a made 3-pointer, he let the Mavericks hear all about it. Before, this was the killer mentality they relished from Luka, but now they were on the receiving end and helpless to stop it.

As the first half continued, more Luka moments were peppered into the game. Dončić had a gorgeous no-look pass to Austin Reaves and, later in the second quarter as Luka took free throws, Lakers fans added salt to the Dallas wounds by chanting, “Thank you, Nico,” while the lead ballooned to double figures.

However, as the game progressed, normalcy took over. The fairy tale ending where Luka scored 50-plus points and the Lakers cruised to victory evaporated in the second half.

The Mavs rallied, outscoring the Lakers 26-19 in the third quarter. Suddenly, it was a one-point game heading into the final frame.

Luckily, the Lakers have a player named LeBron James on their team. And while this night may have been Luka’s moment, this is still LeBron’s universe. He dominated in the fourth, scoring 16 points, grabbing five rebounds and dishing two assists.

The pairing of LeBron and Luka was even more delicious than peanut butter and jelly. Dončić and James had played the two-man game midway through the fourth and had P.J. Washington stuck in the middle, having to pick between helping Luka in the post or staying with James on the perimeter.

Luka and LeBron tortured him as he continued to ping-pong between the two stars until LeBron put him out of his misery, making a three to give the Lakers back the lead. Later in the quarter, Luka found James for a gorgeous outlet pass that led to a dunk and the Mavericks never threatened again.

Now that the game is over, the Lakers and Luka can move past this and embrace their new normal.

The business of basketball can be cruel and even hurt the biggest stars, but as Luka’s own Jordan brand has stated, it’s “Full Tank. No Mercy.” from here on out.

On Tuesday, he officially put the Mavs in his rearview mirror as he moved forward into his SoCal future.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.