If Nico Harrison has a public relations professional on retainer, Charles Barkley thinks they should be fired.
Before Monday’s slate of playoff games, the TNT analyst had some blunt words for Harrison in the wake of several public comments the Dallas Mavericks GM has made regarding the aftermath of the Luka Dončić trade.
Inside the NBA, led by Charles Barkley, has advice for Nico Harrison.
Chuck: “Don’t do no more press conferences. I don’t even know what you’re doing… Don’t do any more interviews… Don’t go on TV no more, man. Lay low…”
He also calls out the Mavs’ ticket hike. #NBA https://t.co/NTO8pqgCV2 pic.twitter.com/Qf1LKbIbn5
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 21, 2025
“Listen man, I consider you a friend of mine. Nico Harrison, I consider you a friend of mine. I wish you nothing but the best,” Barkley prefaces. “I thought you did a good job last year with the Mavs, and obviously whatever happened this year didn’t work out. Man, don’t do no more press conferences. Like, I don’t even know what you’re doing. I really don’t. Like, I got sympathy and love for you, but I have zero idea what you’re trying to do. This war is over brotha. You takin’ the L. I hope you keep your job, I hope the team get healthy, but man, don’t do anymore interviews. Please don’t.
Inside the NBA host Ernie Johnson then asked whether Barkley was referring to comments Harrison made earlier today about being unaware that Dončić meant so much to Mavericks fans.
“Well, I was like, it’s bad last week when he had a press conference and said, ‘You can’t bring in recorders.’ Like, what’re you doin’?” Barkley said.
“So his problem is, he wants to be liked when he should just be focusing on doing his job,” Shaquille O’Neal chimed in.
“Clearly the owners threw him under the bus,” Barkley said. “Listen, I don’t know Nico that well, I know him a little bit. He’s not going to trade Luka Dončić without the owners doing that. And now he’s taking all the bullets, and rightfully so because that’s the job. But don’t go on TV no more man. Lay low. Just lay low.”
But the Chuckster wasn’t done there. He had some advice for the rest of the Dallas Mavericks’ public relations staff.
“And let me tell something else. Whoever announced a ticket hike right in the middle of that gotta be one of the dumbest individuals in the history of civilization,” Barkley continued, referencing the Mavericks decision to raise ticket prices shortly after the Dončić trade. “Everybody knows in sports or entertainment you drop it at five o’clock, or 4:59 on Friday so it can matriculate during the weekend and nobody talks about it. You don’t drop that right in the middle of the Luka Dončić trade that you’re raising the ticket prices. That’s just stupid!”
A nice word to describe how the entire post-Dončić situation has gone in Dallas would be debacle. But more accurately, the word is probably sh*tshow. And the only way out is winning on the court, which will have to wait until next season as the Mavericks watch this year’s postseason from home.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.