The Dallas Mavericks made arguably the most confounding trade in NBA history by trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis. In the months since then, Nico Harrison has been put under the spotlight because of the fanbase's overwhelming backlash to the trade.
After the Mavericks’ season ended with their play-in loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, Nico Harrison held his exit press conference. During said conference, Harrison made a rather bizarre admission about the reaction to the Doncic trade.
“I did know Luka was important to the fan base. I didn’t know quite to this level,’ Harrison said, per DLLS Sports’ Tim Cato.
In the six and a half years Doncic played for the Mavericks, he made five All-Star teams, five All-NBA first teams, and was the NBA’s scoring champion in 2024. In his sixth NBA season, Doncic also took the Mavericks to the franchise’s third NBA Finals appearance.
This is being pointed out to say that everyone in Dallas was aware of how important Doncic was based on his resume alone, except the President of Basketball Operations, apparently. Teams have given up on their superstars, but usually because the team wasn’t going anywhere, and it was clear that a new direction was the best option.
That wasn’t the case for Dallas and Doncic. The Mavericks were coming off a run to the NBA Finals, demonstrating how far Doncic could take them. Being in his mid-20s at the time suggested that the best was yet to come from him.
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Instead, the Mavericks will get the last few years of Anthony Davis’ prime, who is a fantastic player, but has never proven he can stay on the court, while the Lakers’ future is secure for well over the next decade with Doncic on the team.
This was already a pretty miserable situation for Dallas, but Harrison admitting he was unaware of how important Doncic was to the fanbase only throws fuel on the fire.
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