To say the last six or so months of Mavericks basketball has been weird would be the understatement of the century. Since the Luka Doncic trade in February, most Mavericks fans have been wondering when general manager Nico Harrison would be fired, as the Mavericks have toiled the Western Conference with a losing record since the trade, missing the playoffs entirely last season and have started 3-8 this season after a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks Monday night.
Those fans might be getting their wish soon.
For the first time since the trade, Harrison is genuinely on the hot seat — first reported by NBA insider Marc Stein on Sunday, then followed up with earlier today by ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. Stein reported “that the rising and virtually ceaseless negativity that surrounds the franchise is indeed wearing on and troubling ownership.” MacMahon said on The Hoop Collective podcast Monday morning that “it’s a matter of when, not if” regarding Harrison’s termination. Dumont even finally pushed his weight around in regards to basketball decisions, stepping in to voice his opinion on Anthony Davis’ return to play. Davis is currently nursing a calf strain, and MacMahon reported on Tuesday before the Bucks game that Davis and Harrison wanted Davis to return against Washington, but Dumont and the team’s medical staff were against it. MacMahon described it as both sides coming to an understand and exercising caution, but let’s be clear: Dumont is the one with the final say. This is the first time it’s been reported that Dumont has weighed in on a basketball matter, outside of ultimately approving the Doncic trade.
This is a stark contrast to the relative quiet summer, where the most reporting on the subject of Harrison’s job security were some reports that Dumont no longer fully trusts Harrison and had potentially placed instituted some checks-and-balances from Harrison’s decision-making. Dumont himself did not speak to reporters during the offseason, and keeps his distance publicly from the organization, a stark contrast to former owner Mark Cuban’s style.
Because Harrison made it through the summer, I personally figured his job was fine. With the drafting of Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving’s ACL injury, it felt like the entire organization was granted a mulligan season. Dallas certainly didn’t make any moves this summer that would resemble a win-now team, opting for a smaller deal to point guard D’Angelo Russell to hold the fort during Irving’s rehab. Russell was the most consequential net-new addition to the Mavericks roster, as the team re-signed veterans like Daniel Gafford and PJ Washington. If Harrison was hell-bent on capitalizing on his self-proclaimed three to four year window after the Doncic trade, the moves from this summer did not represent any desperation.
Dallas has face-planted this season, tied with New Orleans for the most losses in the Western Conference. They’re the only team to have lost to the Washington Wizards, as Davis, Gafford, and Dereck Lively have all missed time with injury, much like how last season fell apart. Even before the injuries, things weren’t looking good — Dallas was trailing by seven to a seriously depleted Indiana team when Davis left the game with his calf injury, and Lively’s season was a bit up and down before he mysteriously injured his knee. There have been some bright spots, like Cooper Flagg’s ongoing development, Max Christie taking a leap, and youngsters like Brandon Williams and Moussa Cisse outplaying their veteran counterparts. It isn’t enough though: the Mavericks entered Tuesday night’s game against Milwaukee 29th in offense and with a defense that is prone to getting math’d — the overall numbers look OK, but the Mavericks have been burned a few times by teams with spacing and hot shooting to match, like the loss last week to the Grizzlies or Tuesday’s loss to the Bucks, where Milwaukee made 14 three-pointers to Dallas’ nine.
It’s hard to remain optimistic — even if Davis and Lively return soon, the Mavericks are 3-8 through what is undoubtedly the easiest part of their schedule. It only ramps up from here and through the rest of 2025. Not to mention when Davis and Lively return, Dallas has to shift back to their double-big lineup, which was causing issues as is before the injuries struck. Flagg has finally looked more confident and consistent with a true point guard on the floor at all time, and it’ll be hard for Kidd to play Flagg, two bigs, and a point guard if that’s where Davis wishes to play going forward.
Harrison dug this grave entirely himself, and the fan backlash will be hard to quell as the Mavericks schedule gets harder and more losses pile up. What’s worse is that this is officially a Story™ now, with players being asked about it after games.
If nothing else, Dumont cannot get cold feet no matter which direction he chooses — either rip the band-aid off and fire Harrison now and move forward, or commit to Harrison and clear and potential distractions for the rest of the season. If Dumont wants to give Harrison the rest of this season to wiggle his way out this jam, fine, but that means publicly backing Harrison to try and deaden the hostility. If Dumont doesn’t want to give Harrison more time, then just cut the rope now and start rebuilding the franchise in a new vision. There’s really no sense in waiting a few more games to see how bad it could get — it’s already pretty bad! Indecision will only make this situation fester even more.
For Mavericks fans that want Harrison gone, perhaps they will get an early Christmas present. I’ve been skeptical Dumont would be willing to not only eat Harrison’s contract but also do the work to hire a replacement, but it’s clear the pressure is mounting higher by the day. The time to refocus the franchise was the day Flagg’s name was announced during the NBA Draft this past summer, everything since then has almost felt like a waste of time. The ball is literally in Dumont’s court now. We’ll see what happens.