On Tuesday, the Dallas Mavericks and owner met with general manager Nico Harrison to let him know that they would be relieving him of his duties.
While the timing is a bit surprising, people have been anticipating this move for quite some time. Specifically, ever since Harrison decided to trade franchise centerpiece Luka Doncic last February in one of the most confusing moves in league history.
Anthony Davis and Max Christie (the two main returning pieces in the deal) are excellent players (Christie, in particular, has taken strides since coming to Dallas). But Doncic is one of the best assets in basketball, and any trade involving him should include multiple first round picks (the Mavericks only got one) – making this one of the most lopsided moves in league history. For a while, ownership outwardly supported Harrison’s decision, but on Monday, owner Patrick Dumont reportedly admitted that allowing this trade to happen was a mistake.
“Basically Patrick [Dumont] was like, he feels horrible for the trade. And wants to make it up to us,” Nicholas Dickason told The Athletic in an interview. “That’s basically what he said. He accepted my apology for it as well.”
Nico Harrison’s Legacy With The Dallas Mavericks
Funny enough, before this whole Doncic fiasco, Harrison was becoming one of my favorite lead decision-makers in the NBA. It all started in February of 2023 when Harrison dared to buy low on Kyrie Irving when he was spending more time making headlines off the court than on it. The following offseason, Harrison identified Derrick Jones Jr. as a promising role player who would sign for a veteran minimum and Dereck Lively II as a young center who was worth drafting. Then, at the 2024 NBA Trade Deadline, he acquired P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford to round out the roster – setting the stage for their run to the 2024 NBA Finals.
After coming up short in the Finals, Harrison realized the team needed more two-way wings/forwards, so he turned Josh Green, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Jones into Quentin Grimes, Klay Thompson, and Naji Marshall. People forget it now, but the Mavericks started last season 19-10 and looked like an even more balanced group than they did in 2023-24 before all the feces hit the fan.
Outside of the Doncic blunder, Harrison also messed up by cheaping out on Grimes and packaging him and a second round pick for Caleb Martin. Since then, Grimes has become one of the best sixth men in the entire league. According to FanDuel, Grimes has the fourth-best odds to win Sixth Man of the Year at +1600. Meanwhile, Martin is struggling to find minutes on a Mavericks team that has been decimated by injuries. He currently ranks 14th – behind guys like Dwight Powell, Moussa Cisse, and Jaden Hardy – in MPG (9.1).
The Mavericks lucking out and winning the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery (landing them Cooper Flagg) seemed to buy Harrison some time. But after a slow start (as it stands, they are 3-8 and have the second-worst record in the Western Conference) to the 2025-26 season (one I expected them to be relatively competitive in), ownership decided they had seen enough.
Harrison started out as the architect of a title-contending team, but, for one reason or another, he got in his own way, and now, his legacy as the Mavericks general manager is forever sullied.