Tuesday night marked Luka Doncic’s first time facing the Dallas Mavericks since the trade that stunned the basketball world earlier this month.

Doncic, who has fit in swimmingly with the Los Angeles Lakers, produced a triple-double–19 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assists–in LA’s 107-99 win over the Mavs at Crypto.com Arena.

Included in that output were several highlight-reel plays, as well as home fans taunting Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison with chants of “Thank you, Nico!” throughout the game.

While we’re sure that Doncic got more than a measure of satisfaction over playing well against and beating the team that traded him, the Slovenian guard said after the game he was “glad it’s over.”

“It was just a lot of emotions and not much sleep,” Doncic said, via ESPN. “I can’t even explain [it]. It was a different game. … Sometimes I don’t know what I was doing.

“And I’m just glad it’s over, honestly.”

EL SEGUNDO, CA – FEBRUARY 04: Luka Doncic #77 of the Los Angeles Lakers is introduced during a press conference on February 04, 2025 at UCLA Health Training Center in El Segundo, California.
Adam Pantozzi/Getty Images

It wasn’t Doncic’s best shooting night, as he connected on only 6-of-17 field goal attempts and 1-of-7 three-point tries.

Just getting this awkward night out of the way should go a long way in helping the All-NBA superstar breathe easier, particularly with a return to Dallas coming up on April 9.

“The closure is going to take a while, I think,” Doncic said. “It’s not ideal. But like I said, I’m glad this game is over. There was a lot of emotions. But we go little by little, and every day is better.”

With the win, the Lakers moved to 35-21 on the season. They’re currently in fourth place in the Western Conference, holding the tiebreaker over the Houston Rockets.

As for Dallas, they fell to 31-28 overall and ninth place in the West. If the season ended now, the Mavericks would face the Sacramento Kings in their first Play-In game.