While Luka Doncic mercilessly leads the Los Angeles Lakers with a game that has not been remembered for years, the Dallas Mavericks have fallen on their particular journey through the desert. To try to reverse the situation, the Mavs announced on Tuesday the firing of their general manager, Nico Harrison, responsible for Doncic’s move to the Los Angeles team last February, in what is considered the worst decision in NBA history.
Dallas fans never understood the trade. The Slovenian is one of the best players in the world, a regular All-Star, for one of his great rivals, in exchange for Anthony Davis, an injury-prone 31-year-old player. The 25-year-old Slovenian is a generational icon, at the peak of his career, he was comfortable in Dallas and had shown no signs of wanting a change of scenery.
But Harrison took him out of the way because he had Dallas’ franchise player renewal pending for a then-record fee of nearly $345 million for five years. The former general manager of the Mavs preferred to let go of one of the most promising players in world basketball before compromising the team’s finances.
Harrison unsuccessfully attempted to defend the Slovenian’s departure, claiming that “defense wins championships”. But Davis, a good player who replaced Doncic, has missed 30 of the 44 regular-season games his team has played since arriving from Los Angeles. The star who would replace the Slovenian, point guard Kyrie Irving, tore his cruciate ligament last March. Everything seemed to be going against the Dallas team.
Harrison’s move seemed like a disaster from the start, but as the months passed, the worst omens were confirmed. Doncic puts together stellar performances as the Mavericks sink to the bottom of the Western Conference. Since the start of the season, Dallas fans have launched a new protest chant: “Nico out!”
The decision comes after Mavericks owner Patrick Dumont attended Monday’s game against the Milwaukke Bucks, who won on the road by two points. Just 24 hours later, the Mavericks fired Harrison.
The former Dallas Mavericks general manager had worked in Nike’s basketball division for two decades. There he had formed relationships with several NBA players, such as Kobe Bryant, when the Dallas Mavericks signed him in 2021. During his journey with the Texas franchise, Harrison managed to lead the team to the NBA Finals in 2024 with Doncic as the star of the team.
