After Monday’s narrow 116-114 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, the Dallas Mavericks are 3-8, sitting 14th in the Western Conference and falling well below their pre-season expectations.
Despite missing superstar guard Kyrie Irving, the Mavs were expected to make noise in the Western Conference.
They drafted No.1 overall pick Cooper Flagg over the summer, adding guard D’Angelo Russell in free agency, and looked to build around a healthy Anthony Davis.
Their poor start had generated chatter around the league that general manager Nico Harrison, who was already facing the wrath of fans, may end up being removed from his position.
Harrison has been under fire since February, when he made the colossal trade that sent generational star Luka Doncic over to the Los Angeles Lakers for a package that centered around Davis.
The trade was lambasted by NBA experts and fans alike, who criticized the move since it traded a young superstar for one in the latter half of his prime, without nearly enough compensatory draft assets.
Additionally, the fans were closely tied to Doncic, a player whom they drafted and welcomed with open arms. He was the face of the franchise, and he already delivered an NBA Finals appearance.
Nine months removed from that league-altering moment, the Mavericks are off to their poor start, and Doncic is lighting up the stat sheet with the Lakers, currently sitting at 8-3.
Due to public pressure on Harrison, ESPN NBA insider Tim MacMahon predicted on Monday that it would be only a matter of time before the executive was fired.
“There’s a whole lot of things that ain’t good with the Mavericks. And hey, at this point, I believe it is a matter of when, not if, Nico Harrison will be fired,” MacMahon said on ESPN’s Hoop Collective podcast.
“There is a very, very strong likelihood that it will be mid-season.”
Since it is still early in the season, the Mavs could turn their season around and get back on a winning track, though MacMahon, who closely follows the team, is not convinced.
“Maybe they can get things turned around. Maybe his seat can go from sizzling to a more normal temperature,” MacMahon said.
“But I always say, every time I think that they’ve hit rock bottom, they find a way to drill deeper.”
A day later, Harrison was fired. Dallas relayed the news in an official press statement, per Marc Stein of The Stein Line.
Sources have informed McMahon and his ESPN colleague Shams Charania that the Mavericks will replace Harrison on an interim basis by promoting current executives Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi.
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