Luka Dončić and a trade that could change NBA history

NICO HARRISON WORE the kind of suit no one could miss. Electric blue is probably the best way to describe it. And for 10 minutes, the Dallas Mavericks general manager stood at midcourt, 15 feet away from the generational superstar he'd traded to the Los Angeles Lakers a little over three weeks ago, and let himself be seen.

If Luka Dončić had anything to say to the executive who had upended his career -- and the NBA -- with one of the most shocking trades in league history, this was the moment.

Thousands of fans and media members were already inside Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday night, bearing witness to the scene. The vast majority of them pulled out cellphones to document it. Dončić on the Lakers' side of the court, going through his pregame warmups. Harrison at midcourt, leaning against the scorer's table.

Dončić did not look up or acknowledge Harrison once. Not during warmups. Not during the game, when Harrison sat right behind the Mavericks' bench. And not after the game, when he was asked about it.

"I didn't see him," Dončić said with derision that would've made Don Draper proud.

The most game-changing trade in NBA history was a public and private repudiation of one of the best players in the world -- of his work habits, of the culture he reportedly sets, of his future as a top player in basketball. Those close to him say he has alternated between shock, sadness and anger in the weeks since the trade. Every day that he goes home to the Los Angeles hotel he's living in with his fiancée and young daughter is a reminder of how much his life has been upended.

This trade is a defining moment for everyone involved -- for the Mavericks, for Harrison, for the Lakers -- but especially for Dončić. What happens over the next 26 regular-season games will begin to shape their legacies and the league for the next generation.

"Great ones have been traded," Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said before the game. "When you look at others that have been traded, they keep moving on. Yes, you're going to be mad. Everyone's human ... But you can be traded or you could be cut. How you respond after that is what everybody wants to see, and I truly believe Luka's going to be fine."

Still, even Dončić admitted he's never experienced rejection like this before.

"The closure is going to take a while, I think," Dončić said after the Lakers' 107-99 win. "It's not ideal."

THAT PROCESS HIT its first milestone Tuesday night.

"I'm glad this game is over," Dončić said. "There was a lot of emotions. But we go little by little, and every day is better."

For Dončić, facing the Mavericks was an opportunity to face the people and organization that had spurned him. For the Lakers, it was an opportunity to embrace and support their new star at a difficult moment.

"I think the best teacher in life is experience," James said. "When you first start off you're not great, but that's your aspiration, that's your goal. You want to become great, but you have to go through adverse moments."

For Harrison and Kidd, whom Dončić also pointedly did not acknowledge or embrace, it was a moment to stand behind the decision and take whatever scorn or response Dončić had for them.

On this night, Dončić chose to ignore them and anyone else who could be regarded as culpable for trading him. He would let his play speak for him: a 19-point, 15-rebound, 12-assist triple-double, his first as a Laker.

"I'm just glad it's over, honestly," Dončić said. "It was just so weird, the moments. Felt like I didn't know what I was doing."

Kyrie Irving has stayed in touch with Dončić since the trade, checking on his emotional state more than anything. He feels protective of Dončić.

"I don't think he expected the change and I think that's probably what leads to him feeling his emotions even more so in a deeper way," Irving said. "Rejection, I think that's a strong word ... but sometimes it can feel like that.

"You got to go through your process of grieving. Grieving ... is not a word we use in NBA circles -- it's like, 'Just be tough, bro.' Everybody expects you to turn over the next page and get over it. The reality is, man, we're human too."

Eventually, Dončić will either move forward -- or he won't. Those close to him are working to help him do so sooner rather than later.

HOURS BEFORE TIPOFF Tuesday night, Nike posted an ad in which a purple Regera changes its No. 77 license plates from Texas to California plates. The soundtrack is George Strait's hit "All My Exes Live In Texas." The tagline is "Full Tank, No Mercy." Nike also used Tuesday's stage to roll out a new ad campaign for the release of his Luka 4s.

Before the game, that purple Lamborghini pulled up outside of Crypto.com Arena to complete the spectacle.

This kind of rollout would only happen in Los Angeles, and after the trade, the stage was set for a massive Hollywood debut.

Dončić has already begun to signal he will eventually embrace all that comes along with the stage in the NBA's glamour market. First, by donating $500,000 to fire victims in Los Angeles. Then, Tuesday, by buying up a parking lot across the arena and offering free parking for fans on a first-come, first-served basis.

These are early, positive signs that Dončić's future is in Los Angeles, even though he has the ability to become a free agent in 2026 and is no longer eligible to sign the massive five-year, $345 million supermax contract he could have received in Dallas. The Lakers can offer him a four-year, $229 million extension this summer, or, like other teams, a five-year, $296 million contract next summer.

Yes, the franchise will have to surround him with talent, a task the Mavericks struggled for five years to achieve and one that will only get harder when LeBron James eventually retires. And yes, the quickness with which he and James build their partnership on and off the court matters.

Every game is a microcosm of the pressure and challenge of integrating two such similar players, and the unique type of basketball brilliance this partnership can create. There are times when James and Dončić seem to be taking turns initiating the offense, much like James' early days with Dwyane Wade in Miami. Then there are times when they look like they've been playing a two-man game for a decade.

There are stretches, like the fourth quarter of a loss to Charlotte last week, when Dončić looked like a defensive liability and out of shape -- confirmation of the criticisms the NBA world heard after the trade. And then there have been games, such as Sunday's win over the Denver Nuggets, when Dončić has looked like the best player in the world, one who can conjure magic on the court and lift a franchise to a championship.

Former Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who sat courtside in a pair of Luka 1 shoes to Tuesday's game, took in the absurdity of the moment.

Each time Dončić touched the ball, Cuban made a show of booing him. At one point, Dončić turned to Cuban, smiled and said, "Shut up, Mark."

But when asked by ESPN's Tim MacMahon what it was like to root against Dončić, Cuban said, "I hated it."