Tomorrow night, former Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic makes his return to the American Airlines Center for the first time since being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Ahead of that game, a Mavs fan who was kicked out of the arena for calling on the team to fire GM Nico Harrison is being immortalized in a new mural near downtown.
Luka Doncic will suit up in the AAC Wednesday – but for the first time in his career, he won’t be wearing blue and white.
It’s a moment Mavs fan Chris Taylor’s had circled on his calendar since February.
“What has happened in the last two months leading up to this is beyond really what I can comprehend,” said Taylor.
After the shocking trade that sent Luka to the Lakers, Taylor was thrown out of a Mavs game for chanting and holding signs calling on the team to fire Nico Harrison, the general manager who made the trade.
“I think that the trade deserved that type of reaction from the fan base,” said Taylor.
With Luka returning tomorrow, that message is getting blown up larger than life-size.
“This is the mural, this ‘Fire Nico’ hat,” said Taylor.
On the side of a building on South Harwood Street in Dallas, artist Juan Velazquez was turning Taylor’s duct-taped words of protest into a new mural.
“We wanted to just send one last message,” said Velazquez.
Velazquez told NBC 5 he wanted to show the team that Mavs fans weren’t over the loss of their superstar, and many still think the club needs new leadership.
“If you’re going to buy a team that is loved by a city, with players that are loved by the city, that should matter,” said Velazquez. “And if you can’t understand that, you have no business owning any team.”
After the finishing touches on Tuesday night, the wall became a monument to some Mavs fans’ lingering frustrations.
But both artist and subject said inside the walls of the AAC on Wednesday, they would still be cheering on the former face of their franchise.
“Tomorrow night in that building with Luka coming back, the love that the arena is going to pour out on Luka is going to be special, and I think it’s going to be emotional for some people,” said Taylor.
NBC 5 reached out to the Mavericks organization to ask for a response to fans calling for GM Nico Harrison to be let go. We’re waiting to hear back.
