Once upon a time, Kendrick Perkins was seeing Nico Harrison’s vision.
Now, the Dallas Mavericks general manager wants you to see it too.
In his post-2025 NBA Draft press conference, the largely maligned executive was patting himself on the back as his long-mocked “vision” appeared to be coming together. Well, at least in his eyes. This, of course, after trading Luka Dončić for pennies on the dollar and stumbling into the No. 1 pick with just a 1.8% chance.
If Bill Simmons was morally outraged that Cooper Flagg ended up in Dallas, then what exactly does that make Zach Lowe?
Not Kendrick Perkins, that’s for sure. But not a full-on Harrison skeptic either. On the latest episode of The Zach Lowe Show, the former ESPN analyst took aim at the Mavs GM, mocking the idea that any of this was part of some master plan.
Zach Lowe’s segment on the Mavericks, on his latest episode of his podcast, perfectly conveys my thoughts on Nico’s “vision”
Also agree with him that the Mavs are a very good team, but not a contender
Full episode: https://t.co/zsWIOJRFS5 pic.twitter.com/5igBCmG2AJ
— Mavs Film Room 🐴🎥 (@MavsFilmRoom) June 29, 2025
“I don’t want to hear Nico Harrison talking about how, ‘Now, fans are starting to see the vision,'” Lowe remarked. “Because the vision was two quarters against the Houston Rockets before Anthony Davis got hurt. My God, they’re clinging to those two quarters. And now it’s Cooper Flagg. And there is no vision. Unless he’s an oracle of some kind, and then the whole NBA is in trouble because a supernatural being has entered the league.
“There’s no vision that includes, ‘You know what we’re going to do? We’re going to lose in the play-in and win the lottery in the Cooper Flagg year. Not the Zaccharie Risacher year, the Cooper Flag year, with a 1.8 percent chance of doing it. And then the fans’ll see my vision. Then the fans will see.'”
What the Mavericks are calling a “vision” looks more like a series of fortunate breaks held together by wishful thinking and selective memory. Two promising quarters and a lottery miracle don’t amount to a plan. They form a convenient revisionist history.
And while Lowe acknowledged Dallas has built something solid, he wasn’t ready to crown them just yet.
“Just no more vision talk; that’s all,” Lowe continued. “The team is good. It’s a good team. P.J. Washington’s extension eligible. That’s a sneaky one to keep an eye on. They need a point guard. Some point guard. Any point guard. They’re really only going to have the baby mid-level exception to get it — get that player — and that will take them further into the tax. So, multiply whatever they spend for whatever the multiplication is for the tax. It’s a lot of money…
“I don’t think they’re a title contender. Kyrie Irving’s coming back from an ACL tear, and we might not see him at his best. We’re going to see him this year. We might not see him at his best until ’26-27. But this is a very good team. Cool. I would just quiet on the vision talk.”
There’s nothing wrong with being a good team, unless you’re pretending it was destiny all along. The Mavericks have talent, intrigue, and now Cooper Flagg. What they don’t have is proof that any of this was part of a coherent plan.
So sure, enjoy the moment. Just ease up on the “vision” stuff.