THE Dallas Mavericks are paying tribute to Luka Doncic when he returns to the city.
Luka Doncic is playing his first game in Dallas after being traded away on Wednesday.
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The Dallas Mavericks shockingly traded Doncic away to the Los Angeles Lakers before this year’s trade deadline.
Anthony Davis went back to the Mavericks in return for Doncic’s services.
It was an absolute head scratcher of a trade that left Dallas fans extremely upset.
However, the organization has continued to stand behind their decision.
Now, with Doncic returning to the city for the first time as an opposing player, the team is paying tribute to their former franchise player.
Ahead of the game, every seat in American Airlines Center is draped with a special T shirt.
Each shirt is adorned with the phrase “Hvala za vse.”
When translated to English, the shirt says “Thank you for everything.”
It is a kind gesture from the team to show how much Doncic meant to them during his six plus years with the team.
However, fans aren’t as happy with the decision and shared their anger on social media.
“They really sold our sweet prince for scraps,” one fan said.
“Such a tone-deaf franchise,” another fan said.
“They don’t want tv to show everyone wearing Lakers colors,” a third fan said.
“Mavs fans should show up in Luka Lakers jerseys,” a fourth fan said.
New rights deal
The NBA signed an 11-year deal with three networks for the league’s rights from the 2025-26 season.
And there will be no games on TNT for the first time since the network launched in 1988.
The Walt Disney Company will continue to show the league with 80 regular-season games across ESPN and ABC.
They will also show around 18 playoff games from the first and second round, a Conference Finals series for 10 of the 11 years, and remain the home of the NBA Finals.
NBC will return as an NBA broadcaster for the first time since 2002.
The network will show up to 100 games per season across it’s channels and Peacock streaming service.
It will also be the home of NBA All-Star and show approximately 28 playoff games from the first and second round.
NBC will show one Conference Finals Series for six of the 11 years, rotating with new broadcaster Amazon Prime.
Amazon will show 66 NBA regular-season games including one on Black Friday.
The streaming service is also the home of the latter stages of the NBA Cup and the entire Play-In Tournament.
Prime will also broadcast around one third of the playoff games in the first and second round.
“Can’t wait to throw one of these on the court,” a fifth fan said.
Doncic has been amazing since arriving in Los Angeles.
He is currently averaging 27.1 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 7.6 assists per game.
The Lakers are 48-31 and own the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.
