Luka Dončić’s 45-point bombshell in return to Dallas was salt in an ever-deepening wound for the Mavericks

You want to talk about stunting on the ex that dumped you? Luka Dončić waltzed into Dallas on Wednesday and hung 45 points on the Mavericks in a take-that performance that had to have general manager Nico Harrison — and anybody else who had anything to do with quite possibly the dumbest trade in sports history — absolutely dying inside and wondering, “What on earth did we do?”

Just a brief reminder: You traded one of the most talented basketball players to ever inhabit this planet smack dab in the middle of his prime. You ripped the soul out of an entire fanbase. You likely cost yourself hundreds of millions over the remainder of Dončić’s career, which should’ve been a two-decade windfall for the organization and city. 

Patrick Dumont and Harrison, these guys can try to spin this thing however they want for as long as they want. But unless they are completely detached from reality, which I suppose is a possibility, they have to know how badly they screwed up. 

Top moments from Luka Dončić’s Dallas return: Lakers star tears up during tribute, then scores 45 on old team

But to grapple with your decision internally and live every day with what has to be an ever-growing boulder of regret in the pit of your stomach, and to have it shoved in your face like it was Wednesday night as Dončić and the Lakers cruised to a 15-point victory, are two very different kinds of pain. Wednesday night was a form of torture. In an arena full of “Fire Nico” energy, Harrison, though he would never admit as much, had to be hoping for at least a pedestrian Dončić performance, if not something leaning more toward a stinker. 

That was never going to happen. If you thought for one second that Luka was going to lay an egg in this game, you’re as delusional as the people who traded him. Dončić is about as bankable of a big-stage star as exists in the basketball world. Contextually, a lot of descriptions can be applied to the 31 points he poured in over his 18 first-half minutes, but surprising isn’t one of them. 

Outside of the Dallas organization, you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who wasn’t rooting for Dončić to keep piling on the points in this one. Fifty, sixty, even seventy felt possible with the way he had it rolling early. It didn’t quite play out that way, but after a relatively quiet six-point third quarter, Dončić fittingly put things to bed with seven closing points over a two-minute stretch before exiting to a rousing ovation. 

It was that way all night. It felt like a road game for Dallas as fans cheered Dončić’s every shot. By the end it was clear: This is still Luka’s house. 

Meanwhile, that “Fire Nico” chorus? It literally broke out immediately after the opening tip. These people had poor Nico peeking out from the back tunnel like the Politburo when the “Rocky” chants broke out in Russia. 

That picture says a thousand words. That is a man stewing in regret, no matter what he says for the cameras. Wednesday night was salt in an already festering wound. Again, quietly regretting your decision to dump your Hall-of-Fame ex is brutal enough from afar, but when he or she walks back into your house looking like a million bucks, that’s full-on meltdown material. 

I hate to say it, but it serves Harrison and everyone else who had a say in this deal right. They deserved to have to watch Dončić do what he did Wednesday night in their house. And they better get used to it, because the Lakers damn sure aren’t going to give Dončić away the way Dallas did. 

To the contrary, Dončić is going to be showing up in Dallas for two games every season for years to come, and you can bet he’s going to come into every one of them carrying the same hammer he had on Wednesday night. 

This is going to be a recurring Nico nightmare, and a relentless reminder that it’s often those who aim to outsmart the room who end up looking the most foolish.