Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison on Monday said that he underestimated the connection between the Mavericks fan base and Luka Dončić, whom Harrison traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in February for a package centered around Anthony Davis.
“I did know that Luka was important to the fan base,” Harrison said. “I didn’t quite know to what level.”
Harrison’s shocking decision on Feb. 1 led to an outpouring of fan sadness and anger, which culminated in Dončić’s return to Dallas on April 9, when the 26-year-old star was cheered every time he touched the ball and fans called for Harrison’s dismissal with “Fire Nico!” chants.
“The way we look at it was if you’re putting a team on the floor that’s Kyrie (Irving), Klay (Thompson), P.J. (Washington), Anthony Davis and (Dereck) Lively (II), we feel that’s a championship-caliber team and would have been winning at a high level, and that would have quieted some of the outrage,” Harrison said.
That five-man group Harrison cited never played together. Davis suffered a left adductor strain in his first game with the Mavericks on Feb. 8, which sidelined him for six weeks. Kyrie Irving tore the ACL in his left knee on March 3.
The Mavericks had a 13-20 record after the Dončić trade. On Friday, they were eliminated from postseason contention with a loss to the Memphis Grizzlies in the Western Conference Play-In Tournament.
Asked why he should return next season, Harrison pointed toward his overall track record since taking over in 2021 and said he shouldn’t be evaluated based on the injury issues the Mavericks dealt with this year.
“I think I have done a really good job here,” Harrison said. “I don’t think I can be judged by the injuries this year. I think I should be judged by the totality from end to end.”
Harrison traded for Irving in February 2023, and he swung separate trades for Washington and Daniel Gafford in February 2024. Those moves paid off in June with the Mavericks’ first NBA Finals appearance since 2011.
Harrison also decided to make significant changes to the Mavericks’ medical staff before the start of the 2023-24 season, parting ways with long-time director of health and performance Casey Smith. Harrison brought in Johann Bilsborough as director of player health and performance and Keith Belton as athletic performance director. According to ESPN, there was significant tension between Bilsborough and Belton this season, which resulted in a verbal argument in February over the handling of Lively, who was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his right ankle.
Mavericks players combined to miss 345 games due to injury or illness this season. Even so, Harrison defended the changes he made to the team’s medical staff.
“You’re coming at me from a negative standpoint, and I look at it from a positive standpoint,” Harrison said last week. “The guys that we brought in are better.”
Davis has missed an average of 19.8 games per season in his career, while Dončić has missed 15.7 games per season since coming into the NBA in 2018. Harrison declined to get into specifics about how much discussion the team had internally about trading Dončić for an older, more injury-prone player.
“When you trade a guy of Luka’s caliber, you are not taking it lightly,” Harrison said. “But we really feel that defense is our calling card and what we hang our hat on. When we had an opportunity to get one of the best two-way players in the league, we jumped at that opportunity.”
Fan anger about Harrison’s decision isn’t likely to subside any time soon, but every indication is that Harrison will remain in his post. Harrison said last week he has three years remaining on his contract and intends to fulfill it.
“When you have 20,000 people in the stadium chanting ‘Fire Nico,’ you really feel it,” Harrison said. “I use the word ‘awesome,’ but not in a positive way. You can really feel how they feel. But yes, I feel them.
“How am I doing? I’m good. I said this last week. God has got me covered. I have an amazing family and support group to get me through it. I absolutely feel it, but my job is to make decisions that I feel are in the best interests of this organization. I have to stand by the decisions. Some of them are going to be unpopular. This is clearly one that is unpopular.”
(Photo: Jerome Miron / Imagn Images)
Christian Clark is an NBA reporter for The Athletic who is based in Dallas. Previously, he covered the New Orleans Pelicans for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Follow Christian on Twitter @cclark_13
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