It sounds like Nico Harrison’s days with the Dallas Mavericks are numbered. When it comes to the Mavs, few are more locked in than ESPN NBA reporter Tim McMahon, and on a recent podcast appearance McMahon suggested that the organization parting ways with Harrison feels like an inevitability at this point.
"There's a whole lot of things that ain't good with the Mavericks. And hey, at this point, I believe it is a matter of when, not if, Nico Harrison will be fired," MacMahon said. "There is a very, very strong likelihood that it will be mid-season."
This isn’t exactly shocking, and it feels like the writing has been on the wall since Harrison decided to make one of the most confounding trades in NBA history by shipping a prime Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for pennies on the dollar.
The trade was universally panned, as it looked terrible at the time, and somehow it might look even worse now. After 10 games, the Mavs are 14th in the West with a 3-7 record. Top overall pick Cooper Flagg has struggled out of the gate compared to early expectations and he has already lamented the losing taking place in Dallas. Anthony Davis, the central return piece in the Doncic trade, is dealing with injury issues, again, and has been limited to just five games so far this season. Overall, the morale in Dallas couldn’t be much worse.
Meanwhile, Doncic is an early MVP candidate in L.A., averaging 37.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 9.5 assists per performance, while the Mavericks have the worst offense in the league and desperately miss Doncic’s playmaking.
The Mavs had their guy – a young franchise player in his prime who had just led the team to the Finals in 2024 – and they decided to move on from him. It was a poor decision that should certainly cost the decision-maker their job, and it sounds like it will.