The day of Luka Doncic's return to his old stomping grounds has finally arrived. Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers are playing the Mavericks this Wednesday night, with emotions running high, especially for Dallas fans, who are watching the Slovenian superstar and their team's former franchise player see action at American Airlines Center for the first time since his shocking February trade to Los Angeles.

The Mavericks prepared for this day as well. Of course, they had a tribute video ready for the 26-year-old star, who led them all the way to the NBA Finals in 2024.

Dallas also posted that video on the team's social media platforms, including Instagram, with the following caption: “Forever our brate. Thank you, 77.”

However, the post was not received generally positively by the fans, with many boldly expressing their strong feelings about general manager Nico Harrison, the trade and the whole act of welcoming Doncic back to Dallas.

“Send Nico to Mars, and when he needs an extension, give Luka a billion dollars as an apology for selling the soul of the city,” said a fan.

Another one said, “Send Nico to jail.”

“The social media team needs to get a clue!!!” an angry fan shared.

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“All don't deserve to post him,” a comment read.

“If he was Forever ours, we shouldn't have traded him,” chimed in another social media user on Instagram.

Doncic played his first six-plus seasons in the NBA with the Mavericks, and during his memorable time in Dallas, he won the 2018-19 NBA Rookie of the Year award, earned five NBA All-Star nods, became an NBA scoring champion, and, as mentioned earlier, appeared in an NBA Finals.

Despite all those accomplishments and his still huge ceiling and potential to do more in the league, Doncic was sent by the Mavs to the Lakers before last February's NBA trade deadline via a three-team transaction that also involved the Utah Jazz. In return, the Mavericks got a package that centered on big man Anthony Davis.

In 422 regular-season games played in Dallas uniform, Doncic averaged 28.6 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 8.2 assists while posting a 46.7 percent shooting from the field.