Nicolas Batum decided to return to the Los Angeles Clippers in free agency, spurning advances from teams such as Luka Doncic's Dallas Mavericks and Stephen Curry's Golden State Warriors. Just days after deciding to re-sign with the Clippers, Batum and France beat Doncic and Slovenia in the semifinal round of the Tokyo Olympics.

Batum played hero for the French, blocking Slovenia's Klemen Prepelic on a drive to the basket in the final seconds to preserve a 90-89 victory to set up a rematch in the gold-medal game against Team USA. France overcame Doncic recording the first triple-double in the Olympics since LeBron James.

After the thrilling game, Batum had a message for Doncic:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Nicolas Batum (@nicbatum88)

*Watch The Tokyo 2020 Olympics LIVE with fuboTV (click for free trial)*

Batum and the Clippers beat Doncic's Mavs in seven games in the first round of the playoffs. Dallas was up 2-0 and 3-2 in the series, only to fall. The Mavs know they need to surround Doncic with more talent moving forward, and they wanted to bring in the French veteran to play a versatile forward role next to their superstar.

But Batum wanted to return to the Clippers, even with Kawhi Leonard set to miss a good chunk of next season due to a torn ACL. Even without Leonard, LA is a formidable squad, and he should hopefully be back for the games that matter.

The Clippers and Mavs have built up a nice little rivalry in recent years. Perhaps we'll see Round 3 next season after LA took the series in the last two postseasons. We know there's nothing but respect between Batum and Doncic, and they'd surely love the challenge of going up against each other again in the playoffs.