Luka Doncic Makes Emotional, Highly-Anticipated Return To Dallas

One of the most stunning trades in NBA history saw the Dallas Mavericks shipping superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, and while he has already faced his old team, Wednesday night marked his first time back in town since the trade in one of the most highly anticipated regular season NBA games in quite some time.

The deal has been a thorn in the side of the Mavericks organization, as fans were irate that general manager Nico Harrison opted to trade their franchise centerpiece.

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Then, Doncic himself was peppered with claims that he wasn't a hard worker during his time with the Mavs, an assertion he shot down ahead of his big return.

Then, as if there needed to be any more fuel for this fire, Gatorade decided to get in on the fun and dropped a new ad for the occasion.

I don't know about you, but it sure looked to my eyes that the towel said "TRAITOR." 

And then that whole thing about "No love lost, just sweat?" Yeah, Gatorade wanted all in on what had to be one of the tensest returns any player has made to a city in years.

However, when something like this usually happens, the fans pounce on the player. Not this time; it's the aforementioned Nico Harrison who has been getting an earful from the Mavericks faithful.

Harrison has been getting "Fire Nico" chants for a while now, and fans were walking into the American Airlines Center lettin' it rip well before tip-off.

Oddly enough, the team tried to act like it didn't ship Doncic out of town because it trotted out a bunch of towels that had "Thank you for everything" in Doncic's native Slovenian.

As for Doncic himself, he rolled into the arena wearing all black. 

Message received.

However, as the Lakers starting lineup was announced, the Mavericks played a video tribute to Doncic on the jumbotron that left the Slovenian star in tears.

Once the game got started, Dokic got big cheers after every touch, and got a big ovation upon getting his first basket.

But there's still some animosity directed towards Harrison because, just five seconds into the game, the crowd was still hurling "Fire Nico" chants.