When Luka Doncic Left Dallas, Even Jerry Jones’s Wife Shed a Tear

The Dallas Cowboys owner opens up on the trade that rattled more than just the Mavericks.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is seen on the field prior to a game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California on Oct. 27, 2024. Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

We’re nearing three months since the landmark trade of Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, and reverberations are still taking place, not only in the NBA but in the sports world as a whole.

Nowhere was the trade as impactful as it was to the Dallas-Fort Worth metro, and the effects of it weren’t just felt by the Dallas Mavericks and their fanbase.

Even the area’s most popular sports team—and arguably the most popular sports franchise in North America—the Dallas Cowboys, was affected by the transaction, namely the family of owner, CEO, and general manager Jerry Jones.

The Jones family and Doncic had become close during the latter’s six-and-a-half years in Dallas, with Doncic even attending some Cowboys games in Jones’ suite. Thus, Jones was asked to weigh in on the seismic trade from another sport when he held a pre-NFL Draft press conference on Tuesday, and he revealed that his wife, Gene, had the same reaction that some passionate Mavs fans had at Doncic leaving.

“I look at the Mavericks through a very much entertainment eye,” Jones said. “I know Luka was a personal friend and watched a lot of games with us and would hope that he would watch more games with us as we go along, [we]know his family pretty well and his support staff pretty well. All of that is just one as a fan,” he said.

“Now, Gene was All-State, scored 17 straight free throws in a state championship game, and Gene lives and dies with that basketball. And just cried when Luka left. I understand that, and I understand, frankly, you say, ‘How could that happen?’ I’ve got a little bit better understanding [of] how something like that can happen.”

In his role as general manager, Jones certainly has an understanding of how a franchise could separate with an iconic player and fan favorite, as he’s done it time and time again while running the Cowboys.

The NFL’s all-time leading rusher, Emmitt Smith, as well as Larry Allen—who many think is the greatest guard in NFL history—both had distinguished Cowboys careers, only to finish them in another team’s jerseys. The Cowboys’ all-time sack leader, DeMarcus Ware, and the franchise’s all-time receiving leader, Jason Witten, also ended their careers in different uniforms.

However, while Jones could relate to a great player leaving a team, the four aforementioned Cowboys were all at the ends of their careers when they departed. Additionally, none of those four were traded away by Dallas, as they simply signed with other teams in free agency.

That makes the Doncic deal so unique, and why hoards of Mavericks fans wept upon hearing the news, just as Gene Jones did. The early returns of the deal certainly favor the Lakers, so far, as they are still alive and competing in the 2025 NBA playoffs, while the Mavericks couldn’t advance past the NBA Play-In Tournament.

Jones has owned the Cowboys since 1989, so it’s safe to say that he has a pulse on the city and its sports fans. Perhaps he could lend some advice in that regard to Mavericks’ general manager, Nico Harrison, who was hired for the role in 2021.

Maybe from only spending a couple of years in Dallas-Fort Worth didn’t allow for Harrison to understand the love the area had—and still has—for Doncic, and that was evident by the comments Harrison made this week about the trade.

“I did know that Luka was important to the fan base,” Harrison said Monday during his season-ending news conference. “I didn’t quite know it to what level.”

Everyone appreciates transparency, but that was a shocking admission from the man who essentially runs the Dallas Mavericks.

One could argue that the Mavs’s fan base was just as important to Doncic as the 26-year-old was to the Dallas fans, as Doncic still hasn’t completely moved past the deal, as Harrison also revealed that the player still has not spoken to his former boss.

Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic gestures as he comes back in during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz in Los Angeles on Feb. 10, 2025. Mark J. Terrill/AP Photo

The full scope of the deal won’t be realized until the Mavericks are fully healthy and able to surround their centerpiece of the deal—Anthony Davis—with a healthy roster. Davis and Kyrie Irving got to play all of one game together this season, as Davis was hurt when the trade happened.

He then made his Mavs debut, and it was an impressive game alongside Irving as the Mavs beat the eventual 2-seed Houston Rockets. Unfortunately, Davis would get injured in that contest and then miss the next 18 games.

While he was sidelined, Irving suffered a torn ACL, thus ending his season. So, once Davis returned to the lineup, Irving was in street clothes, and he’s expected to miss the beginning of next season as he rehabs.

Meanwhile, Doncic has a chance to win an NBA championship playing alongside LeBron James with the Lakers. If that happens roughly four months after this trade, then there could be more Mavs fans again crying—both tears of joy in seeing their former icon hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy—and tears of sadness in that he’s not hoisting it in a Mavs uniform.