In some college sports management and public relations classes, there will be seminars dedicated to the Mavericks’ handling of the Luka Doncic trade — a “what not to do” lesson.
The latest fallout from that trade came this week after the Mavericks’ season came to an early end in the play-in. General Manager Nico Harrison met with the media and uttered this sentence, via Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.
“I did know that Luka was important to the fan base. I didn’t quite know it to that level.”
Nico Harrison on if he foresaw the blowback to the Luka deal:
“I did know that Luka was important to the fan base. I didn’t quite know it to that level.”
He said plan was that Mavericks would win to have “quieted some of the outrage. And so unfortunately we weren’t able to do that.”
— Mike Vorkunov (@mikevorkunov.bsky.social) 2025-04-21T18:13:38.619Z
Three thoughts here, all a bad look for Harrison:
1) How are you in Dallas and around the Mavericks for four years and not able to grasp the depth of the fan/Doncic relationship?
2) Harrison rose to prominence with Nike as Kobe Bryant’s rep with the company. How do you come out of that situation, see that connection between the home-grown MVP candidate player and the fan base, and then not recognize it in Dallas?
3) The NBA is an entertainment business where the fans are the customers. The media reaction helps shape fan reactions and feelings. To misunderstand — or just not be concerned with their feelings — to this degree is just bad for business.
Here is some of the other fallout this week in Dallas.
• Harrison said that not valuing Anthony Davis and his skill set is why some people don’t appreciate the trade.
Nico Harrison on belief the Mavs didn’t get enough for Luka:
“If you don’t value AD as an All-NBA player, an All-Defensive player, then you’re not going to like the trade. We targeted AD, but if you don’t like him, then there’s nothing else we get that’s going to make you excited about the trade.”
— Mike Vorkunov (@mikevorkunov.bsky.social) 2025-04-21T18:27:30.291Z
Davis has caught way too much shrapnel in this fight. Harrison is right that, when healthy, Davis is an All-NBA two-way player who can help a team at the highest levels — he has a ring and a gold medal to prove it.
That does not mean this was a good trade for the Mavericks. First, as good as he can be, Davis is not the defense-bending force, MVP-level candidate Doncic is (as he enters his prime). Davis is six years older than Doncic and is prone to injuries. Also, Harrison not getting both Lakers’ first-round picks and Austin Reaves back in this trade his hard to fathom.
• Harrison said his relationship with team owner/governor Patrick Dumont is still strong. It should be.
Harrison wanted this trade, but he is also the guy taking the arrows for ownership, which didn’t want to pay Doncic the largest contract in NBA history and helped push for the trade, league sources have told NBC Sports.
• With that, Harrison’s job is safe (for now, he ultimately could be scapegoated). And no, the Adelson/Dumont ownership group is not going to sell the team after this experience. The team — and with it a new arena in the coming decade — is part of a much larger real estate deal that is the ultimate motivation here. Those long-term plans are not changing because of this trade.
• ESPN’s Tim MacMahon did a deep dive on how the relationship between Doncic and the Mavericks fell apart, with details going back 18 months and looking at the fissures within the organization. It is a brilliant bit of reporting well worth the read.
My primary takeaway: Harrison prizes control over everything else, and is not a fan of dissent. That came across in how unprepared he was for the backlash to this trade, as if it never really dawned on him how this could be received differently than he saw it. He didn’t prepare the rest of the franchise or the fans for what was to come.
Read the full article here
