Lakers' Luka Doncic gives Mavericks fans hope for future return with eight-word admission

Lakers' Luka Doncic gives Mavericks fans hope for future return with eight-word admission originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Luka Doncic took care of business against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.

The 6-foot-6 Los Angeles Lakers point guard finished with 35 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists while shooting 55.6% from the field and 44.4% from three in Los  Angeles’ 129-119 victory.

While Doncic, who started his NBA career with the Mavericks, has previously stated that he’s solely focused on helping the Lakers reach their full potential, he succeeded in giving Mavericks fans hope with an eight-word admission during his postgame press conference.

“They (games against Dallas) always have some special meaning to me,” Doncic told reporters before taking it a step further.

“I still have a lot of friends there. It’s fun…It’ll always be special for me.”

Unsurprisingly, members of Dallas’ fanbase were encouraged by the five-time All-Star’s comments.

“I still think he's going to become a free agent and Dallas will be in play so long as (Jason) Kidd, (Michael) Finley, etc are gone by then,” one user wrote on X/Twitter. “He has unfinished business, and he knows it.”

“You know we can work things out in three years after your contract expires,” another fan commented. “Come back home.”

Although it’s fun to envision Doncic in a Mavericks uniform again, there’s no reason for him to legitimately consider leaving Los Angeles.

The former lottery pick is firing on all cylinders with the Lakers, developing a stable pick-and-roll partnership with Deandre Ayton, terrorizing opponents on the perimeter with his backcourt partner Austin Reaves, and guiding Los Angeles in the right direction from a contention standpoint.

Additionally, the Lakers have made Doncic feel at home/optimistic about the franchise’s future by ensuring he received the help he needed in the offseason (signing Ayton to provide a talented lob threat and signing Marcus Smart to provide high-level on-ball defense and leadership).

Essentially, the Mavericks blew their opportunity to build around a player who’ll be an accomplished Hall of Famer when it’s all said and done, and the Lakers are currently taking advantage of it.

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