The Nico Harrison firing saga has been another tale of a general manager risking it and then not being able to see it through due to reasons beyond his control. ESPN analyst Charles Barkley offered his take on the entire situation, siding with Harrison, saying that the former Mavericks GM was used as a scapegoat in the Luka Doncic trade debacle.
“The Mavs were a mediocre team until he made those decisions. He was doing a good job. Then he had the bad luck with Anthony Davis never being available, basically. But the thing that bothers me is that he’s just being made a scapegoat,” claimed Barkley.
“Listen, Shaq knows this, Kenny knows this, there’s no way in the world, Nico Harrison had the power to trade Luka Doncic unless the owner of the team signed off. That was his call.”
“I feel bad about the way Nico is being made a scapegoat. Anybody who knows anything about basketball knows good and well, Nico Harrison did not have enough power to trade Luka Doncic,” added Barkley.
Barkley wants to remove the tag of ‘he traded away Luka’ from the narrative around Harrison. He believes that if there’s any blame to be thrown around for the trade with the Lakers, it should be the entire Mavericks organization that carries it.
“He had a streak of bad luck with Anthony Davis and Kyrie both getting hurt. But the premise of this trade is Nico Harrison, I hear all these fools on TV dub Nico Harrison’s gonna be the guy who traded away Luka Doncic- No. The Dallas Mavericks organization made that call,” Barkley concluded.
Harrison was not working in isolation on that trade because moving away from your 26-year-old MVP-caliber superstar is not something he could’ve done alone. It is a decision that impacts millions of dollars and an underserved fanbase.
Some argue against Barkley, though. They point out that Harrison had to be the one to consult the new owners on these matters. And it looks like he was sold on the defense-first strategy after the Mavericks’ Finals loss.
Nico Harrison had held the GM position for the Mavericks since June 2021. His overall record with the team was 182-157. But what was backbreaking was how, since Doncic was traded away from the Mavericks in February this year, they have had a record of 16-29. They’ve failed to show cohesiveness, consistency, or potential for collaboration.
Doncic’s conditioning would be a prime reason to kick him out in that case because it was crystal clear that he could not have spearheaded the defensive side like he does offensively. Saying that Harrison was unfortunate with injuries to Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving is a questionable statement because both these exceptionally talented superstars have had significant injury concerns throughout their careers.
The fact remains that Harrison traded for Davis while he was injured and had not been a consistent contributor even with the Lakers. The ownership depended on Harrison to make the right call. And it is becoming evident that he did not do his due diligence or ignored the facts right in front of him.
It will be interesting to see where the Mavericks go from here. They still have a solid core, with an upcoming star in Cooper Flagg and the eventual return of Irving and Davis. Head coach Jason Kidd has also provided insight on the way forward, but for the time being, they will focus on developing Flagg and getting back to the top of the Western Conference.
