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Luka Doncic, Anthony Davis Share a Long Embrace After Lakers' Emotional Win vs. Mavs

Tom Dierberger

Davis and Doncic greet each other on the court following the Lakers' 112-97 win over the Mavs on Wednesday night.
Davis and Doncic greet each other on the court following the Lakers' 112-97 win over the Mavs on Wednesday night. / Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images
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Anthony Davis and Luka Doncic will be forever tied together as the two main pieces in the most shocking trade in NBA—and possibly professional sports—history.

Two months after the Dallas Mavericks traded their face of the franchise to the Los Angeles Lakers, Doncic made his emotional return to the American Airlines Center to play there in purple and gold for the first time.

He put on a show, too, scoring 45 points—including 31 in the first half alone—helping the Lakers to a 112–97 win and improve to 49-31 on the season. Davis, on the other hand, scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in a losing effort.

After the game, Davis stayed on the floor to greet his former Lakers teammates. He also made the extra effort to share a big embrace with Doncic that lasted several seconds after the Lakers' newest star wrapped up a postgame interview with ESPN.

That's a pretty cool shot.

Doncic and the Lakers, now sitting in the Western Conference's No. 3 seed with a commanding 1.5-game lead over four teams with an identical 47-32 record, return to the floor Friday to host the Houston Rockets.

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Tom Dierberger
TOM DIERBERGER

Tom Dierberger is a staff writer and editor on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in November 2023 after stints at FOX Sports, Bally Sports and NBC Sports. Dierberger has a bachelor's in communication from St. John's University. In his spare time, he can be seen throwing out his arm while playing fetch with his dog, Walter B. Boy.

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