Even after the end of the Dallas Mavericks‘ season, their decision to trade Luka Doncic in February continues haunting the franchise. There have been a variety of reasons reported about the reason, but everyone agrees it boils down to Mavs GM Nico Harrison personally wanting to move on from Doncic. However, it seems Coach Jason Kidd might have had a role to play as well.
ESPN’s Tim MacMahon is arguably the best source for anything to do with Doncic or the Mavericks, with the reporter revealing on ‘The Right Time with Bomani Jones’ that coach Kidd shared Harrison’s frustrations with Doncic.
“The level of frustration that Nico had [with Luka] at the time was high. By the way, J-Kidd’s was too. I think J-Kidd’s tried to distance himself from it, but J-Kidd’s frustration with Luka was also quite high.”
MacMahon shockingly also revealed that a front office source had told him to his face that they’d trade Luka away if his behavior doesn’t improve, something that Tim mocked them about six weeks before they actually did the unthinkable.
“I was told at the time — obviously, it was off the record, but they traded him now so I’ll say it — “Hey, if we got to trade him, we’ll trade his ass,” and I was like “No you won’t. You ain’t blowing that house down. Give me a break.”… And then six weeks later, my phone dings.”
Even though the Mavericks’ season is over, all anyone wants to talk about is the trade they made. When President Donald Trump is mocking your decision alongside the team owner for the Houston Rockets, you know you’ve made a generational mistake. This was one of the most out-of-left-field trades in NBA history and one that has gone as sourly as possible for the Mavericks.
Doncic is averaging 34.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 5.0 assists through the first two Playoff games of 2025, something the Mavericks can’t relate to because they didn’t even make the Playoffs.
Doncic carried the Mavericks through this part of the season every year of his career, so this might be the perfect karma for the franchise, which clearly didn’t understand or appreciate the magnitude of the talent they had on their roster. It’s a decision that was insane when it happened, and it somehow ages worse by the minute.
