DALLAS — Luka Doncic didn’t know what to expect on Wednesday night, his first time playing against his former team in Dallas since the shocking blockbuster trade that sent him from the Mavericks to the Lakers in early February.

He knew his first time back in North Texas would be “very emotional” for him.

Until he walked through American Airlines Center as a visiting player for the first time, greeting the familiar faces and people he became accustomed to seeing during his 6 1/2 seasons with the Mavericks, he didn’t know how he’d feel.

But the majority of the 20,841 fans in attendance for Wednesday’s game made their feelings clear, showering Doncic with adulation at every opportunity.

“It was a little bit of both, happy and angry,” Doncic said of his emotions as he walked through his old home arena for the first time since being traded. “But it’s nice to see familiar faces here. I spent a lot of time with them.

“It was a lot of emotions. When I woke up, I was tired. I didn’t sleep much, excited about this game and I really appreciate the fans, the way they reacted to me.”

The admiration continued to be shown toward Doncic when he walked to the Lakers’ bench after scoring a season-high-tying 45 points to give the Lakers a late 16-point lead on their way to a victory that clinched at least a top-six seed in the Western Conference playoff bracket.

He hugged teammate Rui Hachimura, dapped up Dorian Finney-Smith and hugged LeBron James while the arena was filled with chants of “Lu-ka! Lu-ka!”

“Well-deserved, well-deserved,” said Finney-Smith, who was a teammate of Doncic’s with the Mavericks for 5 1/2 seasons from 2018-23.

Finney-Smith added: “I was in that locker room when we were struggling. I would say tanking to get him. And I seen the transformation back to being a winning culture. That’s due to him. Obviously, I would say I had a little bit of part of that, but Luka being Luka, man, he brought the excitement back to Dallas.”

Doncic received a standing ovation as he walked back to the bench after checking out of the game with 1:34 left, high-fiving and hugging teammates before sitting by himself to take in the scene.

“Honestly, I don’t really know, I wasn’t even thinking,” Doncic said of the standing ovation. “I was just happy. I wasn’t really thinking that. I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say because I wasn’t really thinking. I was just saying there, ‘It’s over, we won and I had a great time.’”

Mavericks fans showered Doncic with cheers when he took the floor for his pregame warmup an hour before tipoff, with Doncic greeting his former Mavericks teammates and staffers before wrapping up his routine by swishing a half-court shot.

They cheered for Doncic’s first basket, a fadeaway jumper one minute and 20 seconds into the game, not sitting down until after the 26-year-old Slovenian star made his backet — an honor usually given to the home team.

And before the game even started, Doncic made it clear how he felt about being back without saying a word.

He visibly held back tears, with parts of his face turning red as he went back and forth between covering his face with a white Gatorade towel while watching the nearly 3-minute long tribute video the Mavericks showed on the jumbotron during the Lakers’ starting lineup introduction.

“All of it for sure, but I would probably say that the shot (over Minnesota center Rudy Gobert in last season’s playoffs) and the (2024 Western Conference finals),” Doncic said. “We were always the underdog in every series. The way we came together and played together, it was just another level and everybody was locked in.”

Once Doncic walked off the court after the game ended, embracing Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and former Mavericks governor Mark Cuban, he exhaled a little bit, feeling relief to put Wednesday behind him.

“I’m tired,” he repeated two more times. “But I’m happy. I’m happy it’s over. I can get some sleep, finally. But ... it was (an) amazing experience. The fans, the way they accepted me, cheered for me, it was just unbelievable.”

Doncic’s journey for closure didn’t end on Wednesday. But it was another significant step.

“It’s a hard question — for sure, it’s a little bit more,” he said. “Talking about closure, sometimes hard because like I said, I (spent) a lot of time here, great moments. It’s getting more and I gotta focus on different things now.”