It’s Nico Harrison’s job to speak with the media and explain his decisions. But every time the Dallas Mavericks general manager says something about the Luka Dončić trade or the state of his franchise, he somehow makes things worse than they already were.
When Harrison traded superstar and presumed Mavericks lifer Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers for the broken-down husk of Anthony Davis and some spare parts, you could barely find anyone in the NBA world who thought it was a good idea. Harrison’s explanations for why he did it only made things feel stranger and dumber.
That the Lakers became a legitimate NBA Finals contender while the Mavericks faded and lost in the Play-In Tournament only added to the strangeness of the deal.
Fast-forward to April, the Mavericks’ season is over, and Harrison met with the media on Monday to give a lay of the land before the offseason. It did not go well.
One of the areas that Harrison hasn’t done a good job is explaining to the Mavericks fan base why he needed to trade their most beloved star to a conference rival. In an admission that says way more than he thinks it does, Harrison said that the didn’t quite realize just how much of a fan favorite Luka was in Dallas.
“I knew Luka was important to the fan base,” he said. “I didn’t quite know it to what level.”
Considering Harrison has been with the Mavericks for the last four seasons, arguably the prime of Luka’s NBA career so far, that seems hard to understand.
It became pretty clear to him just how passionate Mavs fans were about their favorite player when they started chanting for Harrison to be fired in the games that followed.
“When you have 20,000 people chanting ‘Fire Nico,’ you feel it,” he said later.
Harrison, who had previously stated that he traded Dončić because “defense wins championships” and wanted the team to be more defense-oriented, reiterated that sentiment on Monday.
“The way we looked at it is if you’re putting a team on the floor that’s Kyrie [Irving], Klay [Thompson], P.J. [Washington], Anthony Davis and [Dereck] Lively, we feel that’s a championship-caliber team,” he added. “We would’ve been winning at a high level and that would’ve quieted some of the outrage.”
He later acknowledged that he and the Mavericks didn’t handle the messaging to media and fans following the trade well, but insisted there was no attempt to avoid reporters.
“Our goal is to never run away from the media,” he said.
He also admitted that the recent reporter roundtable, where video and audio recording were not initially allowed (audio recording was eventually permitted), “fell flat” and failed to accomplish what he had hoped. It ultimately led to more unnecessary criticism surrounding the franchise’s reluctance to discuss the trade openly. Even Dončić got in a shot about it.
When asked why he shouldn’t be fired, Harrison defended the work he’s done over the last four years, which includes a run to the NBA Finals last season (with Luka).
“I think I’ve done a really good job here,” he said, adding that he has a good relationship with team owner Patrick Dumont. “I don’t think I can be judged by injuries this year. You have to be judged in totality from beginning to end.”
Coupled with this disastrous press conference, ESPN’s Tim McMahon dropped an explainer on what went down behind the scenes regarding the Doncic trade, including the note that franchise legend Dirk Nowitzki no longer associates closely with the team, mainly due to Harrison’s decision-making.
“I believe winning will help repair the relationship with the fans,” Harrison added as his thesis on how the Mavericks and its fanbase can move forward. And he’s right about that. But there doesn’t appear to be much reason to think the current Dallas roster can compete with the powerhouses of the Western Conference, which includes Luka and the Lakers.
The odds are stacked against Harrison lasting too much longer in this role, and that’s especially true if he keeps failing at press conferences along the way.