DALLAS (AP) — Luka Doncic walked toward the wrong locker room at halftime before a quick U-turn by the Lakers star in his second trip to Dallas since the shocking trade that sent him to Los Angeles almost a year ago.
Hey, at least he wasn't weeping on the bench before the game against the Mavericks, or still trying to process the emotions and everything that was new in the wake of a deal that stunned everybody in pro sports, not just the NBA.
A big fourth-quarter rally by the Lakers in a 116-110 victory over Dallas on Saturday night was a nice bonus for Doncic, who took another step toward the rest of his career with a visit to his first NBA city that wasn't nearly as emotional as his return last April.
“There’s still emotions, trust me,” the NBA's scoring leader said after going for 33 points and 11 assists and beating Dallas for the fourth time in four tries. “But a little bit better, a little bit easier for me. It’s unbelievable. I’ve still got a lot of fans here, players, some other people. I’m happy to be back.”
Doncic has tried to be clear that he's moving on after he wept on the LA bench during a video tribute when he was introduced before the game in Dallas last April. Maybe Mavericks fans are getting there as well.
The game lacked “Nico Fired” chants — the ones fans used briefly after general manager Nico Harrison was let go by Dallas in November following a slow start. The move also came amid lingering resentment for a trade that is now easily viewed as a setback for a franchise that reached the NBA Finals just nine months before a 25-year-old star in his prime was shipped away in the middle of the night.
The centerpiece for Dallas in the deal was Anthony Davis, the oft-injured big man who has missed more games than he's played since joining the Mavericks and won't return from his latest absence — a hand injury — until next month.
When Doncic visited the first time, the Dallas crowd on that night and many others was prone to launching into “Fire Nico” chants, which were still happening early this season.
For the Slovenian star's second visit, the most noticeable chants were a couple of “M-V-P” renditions when he was shooting free throws (he made 14 of 15).
“The significance of this probably will be there for the rest of his career,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said before the game. “This is where it started for him. It’s where he made his first Finals appearance. It’s where he was drafted. The significance for our team is there, and it’s certainly there for him.”
LeBron James and Rui Hachimura were the biggest catalysts for the rally from 15 points down in the final 7 minutes.
James scored 11 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter after at one point having a minus-28 rating with a point total in the single digits. Hachimura had a four-point play and another 3-pointer on consecutive possessions, the latter putting LA up for good.
Doncic did his share as well. His driving layup gave the Lakers a 116-108 lead with 50 seconds to go, and he turned to his old bench as if to say that was about it. Or maybe not.
“I heard the bench said something about a travel," said Doncic, who still found time for playful moments during and after the game with his former teammates. “There was no travel. Two steps. I just looked over there.”
All the free throws made it a quiet scoring night for Doncic, but the shouts of his name from kids near the court were loud enough. He was a pedestrian 3 of 8 from 3-point range, but the 26-year-old did become the youngest to reach 1,500 long-range buckets. He's at 1,501.
“I think the biggest thing this year, he’s just more comfortable,” James said. “Understanding the system, understanding the city, the city embracing him. Understanding it’s his team, and we’re all rallying around him. Obviously we know it’s emotional, a big game, to come back and play your former team. He showed who he is tonight.”
Maybe the next visit — not long before the end of the regular season in April, when the Lakers likely are on their way to the playoffs and Dallas is likely headed home for the summer — will be even a little bit easier.
“This is one year, and next year it'll be two years and after that it'll be three and we'll just keep counting,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “Luka's moved on. And we've moved on.”
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Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg, left, drives past Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic during the second half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic, right, shoots against Dallas Mavericks guard Max Christie (00) during the second half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic looks on following an NBA basketball game against the Dallas Mavericks Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — President Donald Trump softened his tone Monday on the immigration crackdown in Minnesota, touting productive conversations with the governor and Minneapolis mayor as he sent the border czar to take charge of much of the enforcement effort. Some federal agents were expected to leave as soon as Tuesday.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he spoke by phone with Trump, who praised the discussion and declared that “lots of progress is being made." Frey said he asked Trump in a phone call to end the immigration enforcement surge and that Trump agreed the present situation cannot continue.
The mayor said some agents would soon leave and that he would keep pushing for others involved in Operation Metro Surge to go.
Among those who are expected to depart was senior Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the operation and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.
Bovino has been at the center of the administration’s aggressive enforcement surge in cities nationwide. His departure marks a significant public shift in federal law enforcement posture amid mounting outrage over the fatal shooting of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents, the second fatal shooting by federal immigration officers this month.
Bovino's leadership of highly visible federal crackdowns, including operations that sparked mass demonstrations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte and Minneapolis, has drawn fierce criticism from local officials, civil rights advocates and congressional Democrats.
Criticism increased around Bovino in the last few days after his public defense of the Pretti shooting and disputed claims about the confrontation that led to his death.
The border czar, Tom Homan, will take charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Minnesota. Frey said he planned to meet Homan on Tuesday.
Trump and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz spoke in a phone call and later offered comments that were a marked change from the critical statements they have exchanged in the past. Their conversation happened on the same day a federal judge heard arguments in a lawsuit aimed at halting the federal immigration enforcement surge in the state.
“We, actually, seemed to be on a similar wavelength,” the president wrote in a social media post.
Walz, in a statement, said the call was “productive" and that impartial investigations into the shootings were needed. Trump said his administration was looking for “any and all” criminals the state has in their custody. Walz said the state Department of Corrections honors federal requests for people in its custody.
Meanwhile, attorneys for the administration, the state and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul appeared Monday before U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez, who is considering whether to grant requests to temporarily halt the immigration operation.
She said the case was a priority, but in an order later Monday, she told the federal government’s attorneys to file an additional brief by 6 p.m. Wednesday. She told them to address, among other things, the assertion by the state and cities that the purpose of Operation Metro Surge is to punish them for their sanctuary laws and policies.
Lawyers for the state and the Twin Cities argued the situation on the street is so dire it requires the court to halt the federal government’s enforcement actions.
“If this is not stopped right here, right now, I don’t think anybody who is seriously looking at this problem can have much faith in how our republic is going to go in the future,” Minnesota Assistant Attorney General Brian Carter said.
The judge questioned the government’s motivation behind the crackdown and expressed skepticism about a letter Attorney General Pam Bondi recently sent to Walz. The letter asked the state to give the federal government access to voter rolls, to turn over state Medicaid and food assistance records, and to repeal sanctuary policies.
“I mean, is there no limit to what the executive can do under the guise of enforcing immigration law?” Menendez asked. She noted that the federal requests are the subject of litigation.
Brantley Mayers, a Justice Department attorney, said the government's goal is to enforce federal law. Mayers said one lawful action should not be used to discredit another lawful action.
“I don’t see how the fact that we’re also doing additional things that we are allowed to do, that the Constitution has vested us with doing, would in any way negate another piece of the same operation, the same surge,” Mayers said.
Menendez questioned where the line was between violating the Constitution and the executive's power to enforce the law. She also asked whether she was being asked to decide between state and federal policies.
“That begins to feel very much like I am deciding which policy approach is best,” she said.
At one point, while discussing the prospect of federal officers entering residences without a warrant, the judge expressed reluctance to decide issues not yet raised in a lawsuit before her.
Menendez made it clear that she was struggling with how to rule because the case is so unusual, and there are few precedents.
"It’s because this is important that I’m doing everything I can to get it right,” she said.
The state of Minnesota and the cities sued the Department of Homeland Security earlier this month, five days after Renee Good was shot by an Immigration and Customs officer. The shooting of Pretti by a Border Patrol officer on Saturday added urgency to the case.
Trump posted Monday on social media that Homan would report directly to him.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Homan would be “the main point of contact on the ground in Minneapolis” during continued operations by federal immigration officers.
In court Monday, an attorney for the administration said about 2,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were on ground, along with at least 1,000 Border Patrol officers.
The lawsuit asks the judge to order a reduction in the number of federal law enforcement officers and agents in Minnesota back to the level before the surge and to limit the scope of the enforcement operation.
The case has implications for other states that have been or could become targets of ramped-up federal immigration enforcement operations. Attorneys general from 19 states plus the District of Columbia, led by California, filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting Minnesota.
In yet another case, a different federal judge, Eric Tostrud, took under advisement a request from the Justice Department to lift an order he issued late Saturday blocking the Trump administration from “destroying or altering evidence” related to Saturday’s shooting.
Attorneys for the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension told the judge they can’t trust the federal government to preserve the evidence, citing the lack of cooperation the state is getting from federal authorities after they said they were blocked from the scene.
But the federal government’s attorneys argued that the temporary restraining order should be dissolved because its investigators are already following proper preservation procedures, and they’d object to “micromanaging” from the court what evidence the state can examine while the federal investigation is ongoing.
Balsamo reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jack Brook in Minneapolis, Giovanna Dell’Orto in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Mike Catlaini in Trenton, New Jersey, contributed to this report.
FILE - U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino walks through a Target store Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Adam Gray, File)
A man, center left, next to a Minneapolis police officer grabs a protester in the doorway during a noise demonstration protest in response to federal immigration enforcement operations in the city Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Federal agents try to clear demonstrators near a hotel, using tear gas during a noise demonstration protest in response to federal immigration enforcement operations in the city Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
A federal agent points a weapon at a person outside a hotel during a noise demonstration protest in response to federal immigration enforcement operations in the city Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
A federal agent stands guard near a hotel during a noise demonstration protest in response to federal immigration enforcement operations in the city Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Attorney General Keith Ellison speaks during a news conference in Blaine, Minn., Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Attorney General Keith Ellison, right, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz give a news conference in Blaine, Minn., Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
