Luka Doncic's revenge game against Dallas Mavericks could potentially smash NBA viewership record

It's been three weeks since Luka Doncic joined the LA Lakers. The Lakers will host the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night, and it will mark his first game against the team he led to the NBA Finals less than a year ago.

Needless to say, all ayes will be set on Crypto.Com Arena for this matchup, especially after watching Doncic heating up in the win over the Denver Nuggets.

With all the storylines and subplots that might take place in what is dubbed as the revenge game, Front Office Sports believes that this clash will put the NBA ratings' decline to the test. The report said:

"Despite the late start time—and the fact that Anthony Davis, the key piece Dallas acquired from the Lakers in the trade, is out due to an injury he sustained in his Mavericks debut—the game is poised to be one of TNT’s most-watched contests of the season.

"Dončić’s debut against Utah, which had a 10 p.m. ET start time on ESPN, drew 2 million viewers, the network’s second-most-watched game this year, excluding ABC simulcasts."

The most viewed game in the NBA drew 35.9 million viewers, as per Give Me Sport. It was the Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals between the Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz on NBC.

The Mavericks reportedly didn't want to offer Doncic a supermax contract extension and had doubts about his work ethic and conditioning, which prompted them to pull the trigger on the most shocking trade of the past decade.

JJ Redick says Luka Doncic will be 'fine' in first game vs. Mavericks

Luka Doncic's coach, JJ Redick, believes he's going to handle this situation with grace. When asked about Doncic's impending revenge game, the first-year coach downplayed the scenario and said that his new star is getting more acclimated by the day:

“I think he’ll be fine. Every day that he’s been with us, it’s becoming just a little bit more normal. I’ve been there. The first time you play your old team, particularly this close in time duration, it’s going to be weird. But he’ll be able to handle it.”

Of course, things would be very different if the game were to take place in Dallas and in front of his former fans.

But at the end of the day, Luka Doncic is a professional, and he'll have to handle this game like any other. For the Mavs, however, that could still mean a lot of trouble.