It wasn’t the road games that broke the Mavericks. It was the noise at home. After a 3-8 start and months of second-guessing the Luka Doncic trade, Dallas finally pulled the plug on general manager Nico Harrison. According to Jake Fischer and Marc Stein, the pressure from fans inside the American Airlines Center became impossible to ignore.
“My biggest takeaway from being in the Mavericks’ locker room and around team personnel on Saturday in D.C. was Dallas folks saying it was more difficult to get through home games and the deafening ‘Fire Nico’ chants than to play on the road,” Fischer wrote.
That frustration has built up ever since the front office sent Doncic to the Lakers in a move that many immediately called one of the worst trades in league history. Nearly ten months later, the team still hasn’t recovered, and now they are left to regroup around their prized rookie.
“The Mavericks’ hope now, at the very least, is that the beleaguered franchise and its many fans who remain understandably heartbroken about Dončić’s departure can start to move on … with a focus on rebuilding around Flagg,” Marc Stein added.
The Luka Doncic trade was Nico Harrison’s idea, and it’s also his biggest mistake. While Patrick Dumont signed off on the move, Nico made it happen and shocked the entire NBA world. Somehow, he saw Anthony Davis as better than Luka, despite No. 77 leading the Mavs to the Finals just a few months earlier. While he felt justified at the time, the fanbase considered it an act of treason that they will never forget.
The backlash has been brutal for the Mavericks, who have had to endure ceaseless rage ever since. This season, amid a particularly rough start that has the Mavs ranked last in the West, home games have become a chore for the team with unrivaled levels of vitriol and hate coming from their own crowd. Whenever they can, fans flood team events with demands to “Fire Nico” and for the new owners to “sell the team.” Things reached a climax this week after team owner Patrick Dumont was approached by a disgruntled fan wearing a Lakers jersey. He de-escalated the heated encounter but also expressed regret about the move that changed everything.
It all led up to today, with Dumont making the formal decision to fire his GM in a candid and emotional statement to the public. He apologized to Mavs fans, beginning a crucial step in the healing process. While it won’t undo the past, it will start a new path forward under a new vision that hopefully pans out better than the last.
As for Doncic, he’s already moved on to his new team, but he’ll never forget the man who betrayed his trust and loyalty. Nico Harrison changed his career and might have also inspired his best season yet on the Lakers with averages of 37.1 points, 9.4 rebounds, and 9.1 assists on 49.1 percent shooting.
In the end, while the Mavericks cannot rewrite history, they can start learning from it. The front office made a decision that alienated the fanbase and dismantled everything they had built around Luka Doncic. Now, with a new front office coming in and Cooper Flagg as the centerpiece, they’ll try to rebuild both their team and their reputation. There’s still time to get it right, but not much room left for error.
