Dallas Mavericks GM Nico Harrison held a private press conference on Tuesday, and his comments in it ruffled plenty of feathers. At one point, Harrison stated he doesn’t mind if his decisions are unpopular among Dirk Nowitzki and Mavericks fans, which prompted minority owner Mark Cuban to send out a powerful message.
“Dirk is the Dallas Mavericks. Then, now and forever. No one should ever forget that.
That statue will be here forever.
Loyalty never fades away.
Tomorrow night 15 guys will put on a Mavericks uniform. They will do everything they can to win. For themselves, each other and THE FANS. Our squad has busted their a** to fight through incredible adversity. They have my respect and support, should have everyone’s.
I am a Mavs fan. I will always love and cheer for everyone who puts on our uniform.
Tomorrow night and how ever many games we have left this season and in every future season, whether I’m in the stands, in front of the TV, or following every play online, my heart and soul is committed to rooting for the Mavs to win.
That will never change. I know fans are upset. But don’t be upset at the players. Support them. Root for them. Rally behind them.
MFFL stands for Mavs Fan FOR LIFE.”
That’s quite the rallying cry from Cuban. He realizes that Harrison’s comments have further angered the fanbase and hopes that they’ll still support the players, who have done nothing wrong.
The Mavericks players have battled through a lot of adversity this season and will face the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center on Wednesday at 10 PM ET in a knockout game in the Play-In Tournament. It is the most important game of the season thus far.
Getting back to Harrison, here is the comment that Cuban was reacting to.
“My obligation is to the Dallas Mavericks, it’s what’s the best interest of the Dallas Mavericks, and that’s the most important thing,” Harrison said. “Some of those decisions are going to be unpopular, maybe to Dirk and maybe to the fans, but my obligation is to the Dallas Mavericks.”
It’s important to note here that Harrison didn’t just bring up Nowitzki’s name out of nowhere. He was asked about the German expressing his disapproval of the GM letting go of some long-time employees like Casey Smith, who had been the lead athletic trainer for nearly two decades.
Should Nowitzki’s opinion matter when it comes to an employee like Smith? Maybe, as he had first-hand experience of working with him. Even if you believe it shouldn’t, there’s no reason to come out and make a statement like that.
Harrison has already made himself public enemy No. 1 in Dallas by trading Luka Doncic, and he’s now disrespected Nowitzki, arguably the greatest player in franchise history. He’s certainly never going to win over the fanbase after all this.
During this press conference, Harrison was also asked about Cuban stating the Mavericks got a bad return for Doncic. The 52-year-old made it clear, though, that they got what they wanted.
“Yeah, when you, when you look at this trade, we targeted AD with our philosophy of defense, wins championships,” Harrison said. “We wanted a two-way player to lead our team, and that was Anthony Davis. And so, you know, everybody’s going to have their critics. And you know, I’m not sure what Mark said, but that’s a better question left for him, but, but we got what we wanted.”
Defense wins championships is what Harrison appears to have stated repeatedly during this session. He is just not going to accept that trading Doncic was a mistake.
