Copyright Newsweek
The Dallas Mavericks were riding high heading into the 2024-25 NBA season. Dallas at the time was hot off its first NBA Finals appearance since the Dirk Nowitzki-era championship run in 2011, led by All-Star guards Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison made some tactical moves around the periphery of his roster to shore things up, bringing in Naji Marshall, Klay Thompson and Quentin Grimes to essentially replace key contributors Derrick Jones Jr., Tim Hardaway Jr. and Josh Green. The team stumbled out of the gate, and Doncic missed multiple months with a lingering calf injury. Frustrated with Doncic's fitness, Harrison opted to blow up the roster, offloading the five-time All-NBA First Teamer, center Maxi Kleber, and a very past-his-prime Markieff Morris to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for slightly past-his-prime 10-time All-Star big man Anthony Davis, 3-and-D wing Max Christie, and a single unprotected first-round Lakers draft pick in 2029. Both teams also sent 2025 second-rounders to the Utah Jazz, where the Lakers had ditched guard Jalen Hood-Schifino, who was promptly waived. Even Nico Harrison didn't want to acquire Jalen Hood-Schifino. The blockbuster move was an instant disaster. Davis got hurt in his first game with the Mavericks, ultimately playing in just nine contests to finish out the season. Irving overextended himself sans Doncic and tore his ACL in March. Dallas fell to the West's No. 10 seed and, while it survived the Sacramento Kings in its first play-in tournament game, it couldn't advance to the playoffs. The Mavericks did luck into the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, selecting Duke superstar forward Cooper Flagg. More news: Mavericks Expected to Consider Cutting Ties with $50 Million All-Star by Deadline But Harrison did little to address his clear backcourt issues heading into the year, instead paying big bucks to retain a cadre of jump shooting-challenged big men. Harrison also seemed unwilling to break up his pricey trio of aging, injury-prone, past-their-prime pieces in 32-year-old Davis, 33-year-old Irving, and 35-year-old Klay Thompson (who looks borderline unplayable without an elite facilitator like Irving alongside him). So it looked like he intended to both develop Flagg and try to win now. Unfortunately, this Mavericks team just isn't good enough to win now. Worse yet, Harrison gave up on a generational superstar six years Davis' junior, who at 26 is in his absolute prime and has already transformed the 8-3 Lakers into major contenders. On Tuesday, Dallas owner Patrick Dumont made a perhaps-inevitable announcement, firing Harrison and replacing him with former Mavericks forward Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi, who'll serve as co-general managers in an interim capacity. Just nine months later, he's out of a job. Davis has played a scant 14 games since arriving in Dallas, Irving is hurt, Thompson is borderline useless, the team's season is already on the brink of collapse as it sports a 3-8 record and an eyesore of a offense. Fans have taken to chanting "Fire Nico!" at home games and berating Harrison and Dumont. Harrison at least seems to have a bit of a sense of humor about the whole affair. Kevin Gray Jr. of the DLLS Mavs podcast took a screen grab of Harrison's official Instagram, where he officially added "Unemployed" to his profile. Doncic has been averaging 37.1 points on .491/.321/.793 shooting splits, 9.4 rebounds and 9.1 assists across his seven healthy games with Los Angeles this season. The Lakers' offense has been humming thanks mostly to the efforts of Doncic and rising star guard Austin Reaves — and LeBron James hasn't even played a single second yet. Oops. More news: NBA Insider Predicted Mavericks Would Fire Nico Harrison A Day Before It Happened
