Dallas Mavericks GM Nico Harrison continues to come under fire for the Luka Doncic trade today, nearly two months after the guard was sent to the Los Angeles Lakers. It was arguably the most shocking decision made in NBA history and insider Tim MacMahon shared an interesting reason behind it during an appearance on DLLS Sports.
“One massive massive difference from a why would the Mavs make this trade standpoint is Anthony Davis has an extremely tight relationship with Nico Harrison,” MacMahon said. “… As far as Nike clients that Nico was tight with, Anthony Davis is probably number two on the list in terms of the bond that they had.
“Kyrie Irving was also high on that list,” MacMahon continued. “So, you could say these are ‘Nico’s guys’ that he’s brought in with these moves. As is P.J. Washington, another guy who Nico has known and known well since he was a 15-year-old, 16-year-old prospect.
“So, that’s kind of the trend that’s happening here in Dallas and Luka Doncic is a lot of things,” MacMahon added. “I mean we can go down the list of accolades. One thing he’s not, never has been, and certainly never will be, is ‘Nico’s guy.'”
Harrison has longstanding relationships with Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving thanks to their time together at Nike. He started working for the brand in 2002 and eventually became Vice President of North American basketball operations in 2015.
Over the years, Harrison built great relationships with many NBA players who were with Nike. He might have grown close to Doncic too had he signed with them, but he chose to join the Jordan Brand in 2019. That meant there was never a chance for the Slovenian to become one of “Nico’s guys.”
If Harrison is building a team of players he grew close with during his time with Nike, as MacMahon suggests, then it’s not the right approach, to say the least. It’s great if the players and GM have a good relationship but that’s not exactly the key to success on the court.
Having one of the very best players in the NBA would certainly help a team win and Doncic was just that. He had taken the Mavericks to the 2024 NBA Finals and you do not ship a player of his caliber out of town on your own volition.
There is reason to believe, though, that Harrison’s relationship with Davis played a part in his decision to move on from Doncic. The Athletic had stated that the Mavericks were eyeing LeBron James or Kevin Durant to lead their new core. The report claimed that Harrison appears to be targeting stars he had grown familiar with during his time with Nike. Once again, that’s not something to be considered when building a team.
To go with this apparent fascination with having his guys on the team, Harrison had other reasons for trading Doncic too. NBA insider Marc Stein reported that the Mavericks’ GM didn’t want to give Doncic a five-year, $345 million supermax extension. He supposedly had concerns about the five-time All-Star’s long-term health, his attitude on the court, and his discipline off it.
Time will tell if Harrison was right but there’s a very slim chance that he was. This will almost certainly go down as one of the worst trades in NBA history.
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