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Mavericks fans were understandably left reeling after the team sent Luka Doncic to the Lakers in one of the most shocking trades in NBA history. More than a few people headed to American Airlines Arena to express their displeasure with the move—including a few guys who brought a coffin with them.
It’s been less than a year since the Dallas Mavericks lost to the Celtics in the NBA Finals, and it’s very hard to imagine they would have made it that far without Luka Doncic, the former Rookie of the Year and perennial MVP candidate whose been their franchise player for the bulk of a tenure that began when he joined the team in 2018.
That fact that Mark Cuban once said he’d divorce his wife before letting Doncic play for another NBA team basically tells you all you need to know about how much the franchise valued him. However, Cuban took a backseat when he sold his majority stake to Miriam Adelson at the end of 2023, and it became very clear who’s now calling the shots thanks to what transpired over the weekend.
On Friday night, things took a wild turn just after midnight rolled around on the East Coast when we learned the Mavericks had decided to trade Doncic to the Lakers in a swap that led to Anthony Davis getting shipped off to Dallas—a move that was so unexpected Shams Charina had to stress he was not making it up after dropping the scoop.
The Mavericks have attempted to spin the trade as a win that will allow them to build around the defense Davis brings to the table (people affiliated with the team have also floated concerns about Doncic’s weight and conditioning through anonymous backchannels), but you’d be hard-pressed to find many NBA fans who genuinely think Dallas won based on the information currently at hand.
On Sunday, the Mavericks played their first game without Doncic and ended up on the wrong side of a 43-point blowout against the Cavaliers in Cleveland.
That game got underway a few hours before the Stars hosted the Blue Jackets in an NHL showdown at American Airlines Arena, but plenty of Mavs fans flocked to the venue to protest the trade and drop off jerseys, shirts, and other pieces of apparel at the de facto Doncic shrine that popped up outside the building.
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The group of “mourners” included some fans who arrived at the arena with a real, actual coffin in tow while blaring Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth’s “See You Again” before dropping it on the ground and placing a rose on the top.
Three dudes brought a coffin to American Airlines Center. They’re playing “See You Again.”
“Rest in peace to the Mavs.” pic.twitter.com/0Ndv26vGyb
— Shawn McFarland (@McFarland_Shawn) February 2, 2025
Hats off to their truly impressive commitment to the bit.