Nico Harrison’s sudden heel turn into malignant, weaponized incompetence

That is a TREMENDOUS insult. I'm jealous of Matt Gilroy.

The dust has settled as much as it’s going to after what will go down as one of the most shocking trades in NBA history. Luka Doncic is a Laker, and the only rationale from the self-proclaimed architect of the trade, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, is that Luka wasn’t a “culture fit.” “Defense wins championships.” “AD is a special player.”

Pablum. Trite disregard of reality. Simply: what a load of horse shit. 

 Mark Cuban is NOT the owner of the franchise anymore. Adelson's widow is.

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Nico Harrison’s sudden onset of malignant incompetence is the reason why all of this feels so shocking. ...he shouldn’t be involved in the running of a basketball team for the rest of his natural life.

The worst part? There will be no accountability. By any measure, this should be a fireable offense. Nico shouldn’t see the end of the season at the helm of the Mavericks. The way this trade was made, the return he got, his message to inraged fans (“I’m sorry they’re frustrated.”): Harrison doesn’t deserve anything from the city of Dallas. But to be held accountable, the Adlesons would have to care about the Mavericks at all. Which they don’t. Otherwise, they never would’ve signed off on this deal in the first place. Who could’ve guessed that an out-of-state billionaire casino heiress, more focused on legalizing gambling than running a basketball team, would be a disaster? Shocking.

Harrison somehow managed to thread the needle in the worst way possible: taking on the bloated contract of an aging, declining player while also failing to replenish the team’s depleted draft capital. Dallas’ own picks are either swapped or traded between 2027 and 2030—sacrifices made to build a title-contending team around Luka Doncic. The same Luka Doncic they just traded.

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 I hope there are some Mavs fans out there who have the joyful opportunity of refusing him service while he’s still in the city or heckling him at home games, forcing him to hide his face in a suite.

Mavericks GM Nico Harrison’s press conference after trading Luka Dončić was a total disaster

He admitted team Governor Patrick Dumont laughed at him when Harrison first told him about the move, contradicted himself a half dozen times, then bounced as soon as possible.

This is pretty good blow-torching too. Matt Martinez. Wait. This is a blog. Is Matt Martinez the same guy as Matt Gilroy?

Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison presided over a complete disaster of a press conference on Sunday, hours after sending Luka Dončić, the most talented player the team will ever see, to the Los Angeles Lakers in a trade in the dead of the night. 

Harrison, seated next to the lamest of lame ducks in Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd, was asked early on in the proceedings about how Anthony Davis, the oft-injured 31-year-old centerpiece coming back to the Mavs in the trade, fits into the team’s plans both in the short-term and in the long-term. His non-answer answer was filled with contradictions, double-speak and a sense of fear that is completely baffling to the thousands of fans who have watched Harrison...

"Fear". He should be in fear at what he did. He's going to get tarred and feathered and ridden out of D on a rail. It is "baffling" though that he hadn't thought it through and conveyed "fear" in his presser.

    Nico Harrison said long-term success to him is the next 4-5 years.

    that’s a really bad quote from a GM.
    — All Things Mavs (@All_Things_Mavs) February 2, 2025 

Hey, buddy, read the room. This team, with Dončić as the head of the snake, went to the NBA Finals last season. 

...a trade that detonates the entire Mavericks organization.

Later in the press conference, Harrison chuckled a bit while noting that Mavericks team Governor Patrick Dumont, Harrison’s boss, laughed at Harrison when he first told Dumont about the trade structure. Fans reportedly took it a step further than laughter. Some took to vandalism of team real estate in the wee small hours of the morning. 

 

    Security is power washing a profane message directed toward Mavs GM Nico Harrison off of the concrete.

    The fans began to cheer when it didn’t come off. pic.twitter.com/5jtgOU6E2Z
    — Shawn McFarland (@McFarland_Shawn) February 2, 2025

Harrison had the gall to say minutes later that he’s “sorry that [fans] are frustrated,” but that “when we win I believe the frustration will go away.” The only problems with that being that he previously said that “long-term” means 4-5 years from now and that the trade he just pulled the trigger on has the potential to render the team irrelevant for even longer than that.

Kidd didn’t do himself any favors in this clown show of a press conference, either. When asked why the incoming players fit better into the Mavs future plans than Dončić, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris, Kidd stumbled out of the gate with, “It’s not about better” and something to the effect that “it’s about defense.”

...making the team better, [is] not something a lowly blogger should have to remind a head coach of. 

We bloggers are lowly.

That, ladies and gentlemen, was how not to hold a press conference. Harrison got the hell out of Dodge as soon as it was socially acceptable to do so, with tail tucked. He lit the fuse that would blow up the franchise then ran like hell, as cowards do. He needs to admit at some point that he just didn’t like Dončić. 

Yeah, there's nothing left of Harrison after that but a pile of dust and some charred bone.