The Dallas Mavericks [fired general manager Nico Harrison on Tuesday](https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/46928742/sources-mavericks-expected-fire-general-manager-nico-harrison). The only surprising thing about the decision was that it came now and not when Nico Harrison told Mavericks ownership that he was looking to trade Luka Doncic back in February, especially considering the return would be 32 year old Anthony Davis. But I guess if you’re Nico Harrison and you have a chance to trade your young, perennial MVP candidate for a player that’s never been as good, is injury prone, and is now on the downside of his career, you have to do it. I guess.
The whole idea behind the trade was that “defense wins championships” and Luka is fat, therefore he can’t play defense and win championships (ignoring that Luka led them to the Finals less than a year prior). Davis, to his credit, has established himself as one of the best defensive bigs of his era, when he plays. Harrison scoffed at the criticism he received for the move and felt he’d ultimately be proven right. So much for that.
Fast forward to the present day. Anthony Davis is hurt (shocking), Kyrie Irving is still out for the foreseeable future rehabbing a torn ACL, and the Mavericks are 3-9, just a half game above the Pelicans for worst record in the western conference. To add even more insult to the Luka trade, Quentin Grimes, who is 25 years old and was traded away along with a 2nd round pick for Caleb Martin, is looking like a Sixth Man of the year candidate in Philadelphia. Meanwhile Caleb Martin is averaging one (1) point per game. The Mavericks’ wins are over the lowly Wizards and Pacers with one upset over the Raptors. To Nico’s credit, they do have the fourth best defense in the league. But it turns out offense matters too, and the Mavericks are dead last on that side of the floor.
That leaves the Mavericks at a crossroad. Outside of Cooper Flagg and Dereck Lively, the Mavericks central players are all rapidly aging. Davis, Irving, and Klay Thompson are all on the wrong side of 32, and none are the most hardy of players. The drop is going to be precipitous, and at this point it looks like the peak isn’t going to be that high anyway. But all hope is not lost. They have Flagg and Lively, which is a great starting point for a rebuild. If the Mavericks were smart, they’d unload Davis, Irving, and Thompson for whatever they can get and shift their focus to a rebuild. They need to do it now too. They own their own pick in the 2026 draft, which looks very strong right now. After that, they lose control of their first round picks for several seasons. They need to stockpile some picks via trade to help move that rebuild along. the aforementioned trio can probably fetch a decent return, at least in the cases of Irving and Davis. And they can probably get a little something for PJ Washington.
And that’s where we get the Hornets tie-in. Back in 2024, the new Hornets ownership group stepped in and pushed previously idle general manager Mitch Kupchak to move some of the team’s veteran players to stockpile some picks. One of those moves sent PJ Washington to Dallas for Grant Williams and the Mavericks’ 2027 first round pick. That pick is only protected if it lands in the top two.
There is a scenario that is growing more likely by the day where the Mavericks strip their roster down to the youth and turn their focus to rebuilding from the ground up. They’ll have Cooper Flagg, Dereck Lively, and whoever they get in this upcoming draft as centerpieces. Given that this is the probably the last time the Mavericks will be able to control their own pick for several years, they have every incentive to make that pick as good as possible. That means making their team as bad as possible and collecting as many future assets as they can along the way.
So what does that mean for the Hornets? If the Mavericks truly embrace the tank and go all-in for the 2026 draft, they’re going to have to purge their roster pretty significantly. While the presence of Flagg and another highly ranked rookie are going to be very good for the Mavericks in the long term, it’s unlikely they’ll be able to significantly elevate a team so early in their careers. Unless the Mavericks strike gold on a free agent signing, which rarely happens now, or get a Shai Gilgeous-Alexander like return for one of their aging stars, they’ll be in the lottery again in 2027 hoping that the ping pong balls bounce their way once more. If the balls don’t cooperate, the Hornets could very well end up with a relatively high lottery pick to add to a (hopefully) ascending team. That’s how you build and sustain success.
On one hand, I’m kind of disappointed to see one of the last remaining incompetent GMs be set free into the win. The league is just a little more entertaining when there are front offices arrogantly making dumbfounding moves. Now we just have the Pelicans to watch. On the other hand, the Hornets are going to benefit from Harrison’s incompetence. He damaged the roster so badly that’s going to need to be torn down and rebuilt again. The Hornets are in a prime spot to poach a high pick from the Mavericks while they’re undergoing that rebuild.
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