Luka Dončić’s tense Dallas return has finally arrived. What should we expect?

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Three of the last five coaches to win a championship have been fired two years later. It seems like a fun profession!

He’s Finally Back

What should we expect in Luka’s Dallas return?

We’ve seen two dramatically different returns to old stomping grounds this season. Back on Dec. 19, Karl-Anthony Towns returned to the Target Center – a place he called home for the first nine years of his career before the Timberwolves traded him to the Knicks. The crowd gave him a standing ovation, showering him with appreciation for his time on the team and in the community. But they still wanted the Wolves to win the game.

Then, there’s the one we saw more recently on March 25, when Jimmy Butler returned to Miami to take on the Heat. About six-plus weeks prior, Butler forced his way out of Miami with an ugly breakup, finding his way to the Warriors. The crowd booed him throughout the night, celebrated his off night, and basked in the glow of a blowout 112-86 victory over the Warriors.

Tonight, we’re going to see a return that I don’t think we’ve ever seen before. Dončić and the Lakers will be at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, as the five-time All-NBA selection plays against the Mavericks for the first time in his old home arena. Not only will we see the Mavericks fans cheer for Dončić. I believe we’re going to see them continue to don his Lakers jersey in protest of general manager Nico Harrison and the Mavericks ownership. I also believe we’re going to see a lot of Mavericks fans rooting for Dončić to not only light up his former team, but also win the game.

GO DEEPER

Mark Cuban sold the Mavs expecting to still make decisions. Then he heard they traded Luka Dončić

I don’t think the Dončić trade has turned these Mavericks fans into Lakers fans. But sometimes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And the Lakers are the enemy of Harrison. The worse this trade continues to look for Harrison and the Mavericks, the more Mavs fans will feel vindicated in their protest and vitriol toward the situation, and the more they’ll feel like an eventual change will occur with Harrison’s employment status. I don’t know if that last part will actually be affected, but that’s what the Mavs fans continue to call for.

The Lakers are 16-9 when Dončić plays so far this season. He’s been pretty good, getting closer to the standard we consistently expect from him. And the Lakers are pushing toward securing the No. 3 seed in the West. They were fifth when they made the trade.

The Mavericks are on the verge of clinching 10th in the West, securing the last spot in the Play-In Tournament. They were eighth when they acquired Anthony Davis, but have undergone a ridiculous number of injuries since then. They are 5-2 when Davis plays, but we’ll remind you Kyrie Irving is out for the season with an ACL tear.

Tonight is going to be very emotional in the AAC in Dallas. Mavs fans might do the unthinkable and root for not only their favorite player in a different uniform, but also for him to beat the team they love. The game is on ESPN at 7:30 p.m. ET.

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The Last 24

The NBA has definitely been normal

🙋 Quick question. Surprise star trades. Late-season coaching firings by playoff teams. What’s up with the NBA lately?

🤔 New decision-makers. Here is a deep dive on how Mark Cuban was removed from key choices for the Mavericks.

🏀 Power Rankings. Law Murray answering the questions he had Week 1, but here’s my question. Is it time to talk Clippers again?

🏀 Visa fiasco. Top draft prospect Khaman Maluach of Duke might have Visa issues. The South Sudanese kid can’t leave the U.S. now.

🎧 Tuning in. Today’s NBA Daily reacts to the Nuggets’ surprising news (more on that in a few scrolls).

🙏 Only a broken wrist. Scary scene for Jaylen Wells last night on fall after a dunk. He was stretchered off the floor.

📺 After Lakers-Mavs. Rockets (52-27) at Clippers (47-32), 10:30 p.m. ET on League Pass (get it here). Get ready for low-scoring action.

Nuggets Did What?

Denver fires coach with three games left

This NBA season can’t just have one normal week, can it?

Yesterday, we looked at coaching hot seats, and at no point did I consider the idea we’d have to include then-Nuggets coach Michael Malone – certainly not now. His team is in the middle of a battle for home court advantage in the first round. He won a championship two years ago. He’s highly regarded around the NBA. So, of course, Malone got fired about three hours after we sent out The Bounce yesterday.

Why would the Nuggets do this? Why now? Why with three games left in the regular season while they’re fighting with four other teams for the No. 4 seed in the West? Did they see Memphis go 3-3 since firing its coach with nine games left in the season and think, “hell yeah”?

Assistant coach David Adelman is going to be the interim coach for the next two-to-however many weeks. They also announced they’ll let GM Calvin Booth’s contract expire. Let’s dive into it and try to figure this out.

The issues between Booth and Malone: When the GM and the coach don’t get along, that’s a tough rift within an organization. Booth wanted Malone to play the young guys he had drafted. It makes sense because you need to develop them, and they’re cost-effective. Malone didn’t really want to play them because young players don’t typically help you win. He was trying to win.

The Nuggets’ defense was bad: They’re currently tied for 19th in defensive rating with Brooklyn. That’s pretty bad. They were 16th before the All-Star break, giving up 113.7 points per 100 possessions. After the break, that rose to 118.3 and ranked 22nd. In related news, Nikola Jokić has slipped a bit defensively (makes sense with everything he has to do on offense), they let Kentavious Caldwell-Pope walk for nothing and Aaron Gordon has played only 48 games.

Malone lost the locker room: Or part of it, at least. He can be grating on players, and he definitely had some heavy comments about players after last game. Jokić has been frustrated with the defense and commitment as a team, but it’s unclear if that extends to Malone’s coaching.

Management believes this team isn’t living up to its potential: In a state of the Nuggets address post-firing, vice chairman of Kroenke Sports and Entertainment Josh Kroenke said this:

“I think there’s more to that group than has been accomplished thus far.”

Josh, let me tell you. There isn’t. There’s pretty much just Big Honey. That’s what happens when you decide to be frugal with the roster following a brief title run. You hope to just develop some young guys to take the place of a Caldwell-Pope or get an aging veteran on the cheap to catch lightning in the bottle one last time. All this time, the Nuggets still haven’t figured out how to even mildly survive with Jokić off the floor. It’s not a Malone issue; it’s a roster construction issue.

On top of that, Jamal Murray hasn’t even started his four-year, $207 million extension yet. And the Nuggets don’t know if he’ll get back before the start of the playoffs. That is if they don’t slip into the Play-In Tournament in this West traffic jam. They gave Adelman three games to figure out how to pull it all together in a situation where they apparently knew they didn’t want the coach for them long term. This is a copycat league, but copy a different cat. Memphis’ process with this sucked too.

Declared!

Spartan wing Jase Richardson is NBA-bound

Michigan State freshman Jase Richardson declared for the 2025 NBA Draft, as many expected him to do. Here’s a quick what you need to know:

Height: 6-3 | Position: Guard/Wing | Vecenie Big Board: 11th

Stats: 12.1 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.9 apg, 49.3/41.2/83.6 shooting splits

What to like: Efficient scorer, good athlete, strong 3-point shooter

What to question: Undersized for a wing and not really a playmaker

Cool fact: Son of Jason Richardson

Keep this page handy to track players who have and haven’t declared for the draft. We’ll have more prospect breakdowns as we get closer to the draft.

About Last Night

Ejections, celebrations and playoff jockeying

We had a lot happen on Tuesday in the NBA, as we all prepared for Wednesday to be a chaotic night with Dončić returning to Dallas. In case you missed anything last night, here’s everything you need to know:

Ja Morant’s new celebration: Remember how Adam Silver told Morant not to do the gun celebration and then he did the gun celebration and then the league hit him with a $75,000 fine? Well, after a 3-pointer against Charlotte last night, Morant had a new one.

The internet was calling it Morant’s “grenade” celebration. People were saying it looked like he mimed throwing a grenade into the crowd … mostly because that’s exactly what he did. Now, to be fair, commissioner, it’s not a gun celly!

Dončić’s bad ejection: We were having a really fun game between the Thunder and Lakers, and then Dončić was ejected. He just hit a shot to put the Lakers up 108-107 with 7:42 left in the game, and he talked some trash to a fan. Two problems with that. 1) The referee thought it was directed at him, so he T’d Dončić up. 2) Dončić already had a technical foul, so he was tossed out of the game.

Dončić and the Lakers tried to plead with the ref that he was yelling at a fan, as he is wont to do. But the ref was not swayed, believing Dončić was complaining to the referee, as he is also quite often wont to do. After that, the Thunder closed the game out on a 29-12 run to win, 136-120. It was their 51st double-digit win of the season, setting a new NBA record.

The West traffic jam is still jammed! The Lakers loss cut their two-game cushion down to one. The Clippers beat the Spurs 122-117, the Warriors beat the Suns, 133-95 (YIKES) and the Grizzlies beat the Hornets 124-100. That puts the Clippers, Warriors, Nuggets and Grizzlies with the same record. Your latest West standings 3-8 are now:

3. Lakers | 4. Clippers | 5. Nuggets | 6. Warriors | 7. Grizzlies | 8. Wolves

Why did the Wolves drop to eighth? Because they blew a 24-point lead by giving up a 34-3 run and getting outscored 40-13 in the fourth quarter because they couldn’t solve the Bucks’ zone defense. They lost, 110-103.

Kings clinched! The Suns’ loss to the Warriors clinched a Play-In spot for Sacramento. Another Phoenix loss or Dallas win eliminates the Suns from the Play-In.

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(Top photo: Gary A. Vasquez / USA Today Network via Imagn Images )

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