Dallas Mavericks GM Nico Harrison has become public enemy number 1 for the fanbase, but it doesn’t look like he’ll be losing his job anytime soon. NBA insider Brett Siegel reports that Harrison’s job is not in threat despite the Mavericks’ 2024-25 season turning into an absolutely disastrous one.
“There are no indications suggesting Harrison’s job is in jeopardy at this time, sources said. Dumont has continued to defend him, and the Mavs are committed to seeing this vision through.”
The Mavericks’ ownership bought into Harrison’s vision and backed his decision to trade Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, so it makes sense they’re going to give him time to see things through. That won’t be a popular decision, but what’s one more unpopular one going to do when you consider just how much the fanbase dislikes the Dumont and Adelson families?
While Harrison doesn’t deserve all of the blame for the Mavericks’ downfall this season, he should get at least some of it. For starters, trading Doncic was undoubtedly the wrong decision, both in the short and long term.
Harrison believed trading Doncic for Anthony Davis gave the Mavericks a better chance at winning now and in the future, but that was an absurd claim. The Slovenian is one of the very best players in the NBA, but the executive was concerned about his body breaking down moving forward.
So, what does Harrison do because of those concerns? Well, he trades for Davis, who has quite the injury history. The big man then suffered an adductor strain on his Mavericks debut on Feb. 8 and has been out since. While that was some bad luck, there was always a great risk of injury when it came to Davis.
With Doncic gone and Davis out, Kyrie Irving had to carry a bigger load than he’d have liked, and it could well have played a part in him tearing his ACL. The Mavericks ran Irving to the ground, as he was averaging 39.4 minutes per game since Doncic was traded.
Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd ripped the media for claiming Irving’s workload had anything to do with the injury. Kidd felt it was a freak accident and wanted it to be reported as one. It might have been one, but you increase the risk of injury by making a 32-year-old guard play all those minutes.
So, some would certainly point the finger of blame at Harrison for things going so horribly wrong for the Mavericks this season. They have now dropped to 32-32 on the season, thanks to a four-game losing streak, and look set to tumble down the standings.
Mark Cuban Criticized The Mavs Front Office For Not Getting A Better Return For Luka Doncic
Trading Doncic was a bad decision in itself, but what made matters worse was that Harrison was not able to get a good enough haul in return. It’s not even just the fans who feel that way, with minority owner Mark Cuban admitting the Mavericks got a bad return for Doncic.
“If the Mavs are going to trade Luka, that’s one thing,” Cuban said. “Just get a better deal. No disrespect to Anthony Davis, but I still firmly believe if we had gotten four unprotected number ones and Anthony Davis and Max Christie, this would be a different conversation.”
It was reported that Harrison did want a better package for Doncic, but Lakers GM Rob Pelinka was able to convince him to lower the asking price due to the injury risk. You wonder how Pelinka pulled that off. Some more assets would have lessened the blow a bit, but this would have still been looked at as a disastrous trade.
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