As the Mavericks decided to part ways with their former general manager, Nico Harrison, the NBA world ponders the aftermath of the decision on the franchise. While reports highlight Harrison’s erroneous judgments during his tenure, some players and experts have stepped up in Nico Harrison’s defense as well.
Patrick Dumont, the owner and governor of the Mavericks, recently confessed that trading Luka Doncic was a mistake for the franchise, and Harrison’s firing indicated that the ownership blamed him for their current predicament.
However, NBA Insider Tim MacMahon says that Dumont also played a key role in initiating the decision to trade Doncic and doesn’t want to blame himself by accepting his own mistake.
This adds to the narrative that Harrison was made the scapegoat of a situation where the Mavericks’ ownership was equally responsible. MacMahon went on the ‘105.3 The Fan’ radio show and spoke his mind on the Mavericks’ recent news.
“I think that he realized it last year, and it was a rude awakening,” pondered MacMahon. “Patrick Dumont is a businessman. He understands the bottom line. And they were bleeding revenue last year, just bleeding revenue.”
“Forget the emotion, forget the outrage that AD got hurt again last year in his first game after rushing back. He was sold on Luka Doncic being a terrible business investment,” MacMahon further added.
“We can’t give this guy a supermax, no way it’s going to be worth it,” said MacMahon on what Dumont likely thought at the time of trading Doncic. “He came to realize that not only is Luka a supermax player, but the supermax is a great investment because Luka is what drove the business of the Mavericks.”
Doncic was eligible for a $345 million supermax extension with the Mavericks when they decided to trade him. Dumont and the rest of the Mavericks’ management reportedly had their skepticism about giving him that much money.
MacMahon also called the 24-year sellout streak “phony,” which recently ended in October after the Mavericks failed to have a sold-out arena for the first time since 2001.
“Dude, you looked around that arena last year, attendance plummeted, and all the associate revenue that goes along with that. The jersey sales, their TV subscription product, they were really tanking and bleeding money.”
“Billionaire dudes don’t like admitting that they made colossal mistakes, and firing Nico is a public admission that Dumont made a historic mistake less than one year into being a governor of an NBA franchise. That’s something he has to live with and learn from,” said MacMahon in conclusion.
MacMahon, in other words, pointed to Dumont putting aside his ego to essentially publicly admit his historic mistake in less than one year after he became the governor of the Mavericks.
The Mavericks are currently 3-9 for the season and will face the Clippers next in their second fixture of the NBA Cup. Trading Anthony Davis and initiating a total rebuild of the franchise is on the table for the franchise’s next steps. It will be interesting to see how Dumont plans the Mavs’ road to recovering from his colossal mistake.
