Three worst decisions former Mavericks GM Nico Harrison made

Copyright Yardbarker

It takes a special kind of talent to take an NBA Finals team, dismantle it and send off the best part of it for scraps. In one of the rarest moves in NBA history, a sitting GM traded a then-25-year-old megastar (under contract for years to come) to a team for value far from its equal. That one move made Nico Harrison, the person of note, one of the worst GMs in sports history. His trade of Luka Doncic still boggles minds months later. Yet, Harrison's tenure with the Dallas Mavericks is riddled with terrible moves beyond that one trade. It ranges from hiring Jason Kidd to mind-bogglingly bad trades and inconceivable contract extensions. These aren't all of the worst moves Harrison made during his brutal tenure with the Mavs, but these three highlight the worst of the worst during Harrison's tenure with Dallas. 3. Kyrie Irving's contract extension Kyrie Irving is a future Hall of Famer, but he's played just 60 games once since he turned 27, and that was when he was a member of the Boston Celtics. He's dealt with various leg injuries for his whole career, including now, as he recovers from an ACL surgery. That's an injury that could derail the career of a healthy 23-year-old, let alone a soon-to-be 34-year-old. Turning 34 in March, Irving's return isn't likely to see him regain his old form. Players start to fall off in their 30s, and that's made even worse by devastating injuries, such as a torn ACL. Given Irving's injury history, it's likely that his falloff is hastened. Knowing this is general sports knowledge, you'd think Harrison wouldn't give him a three-year contract worth $119 million. Yet, that's what he did, tying Irving up to a poison-pill-level contract that's nearly unmovable if he's unable to stay healthy. Since the Mavs could be looking to blow things up and rebuild, Irving's contract will hinder what moves can be made. 2. Klay Thompson's contract extension Re-signing Irving this offseason was a desperate move by Harrison, but trading for and extending Klay Thompson seemed short-sighted from the jump. He was an aging guard with a history of brutal knee issues. Giving him the contract that the Mavericks did was ill-advised. Now, they're stuck with a 35-year-old wing whose true shooting percentage on the year is a terrible 42.2 percent, down 120 points from the year before (54.2 percent). Thompson is paid too much, has no trade value and is actively making the Mavericks worse with each minute he's on the court. An undrafted free agent could give the Mavs better minutes. Yet, it'll be nearly impossible to trade him to help start the rebuild. 1. Trading Luka Doncic "Generational talent" gets thrown around too often, but Luka Doncic is the definition of that. Maybe three other players since 2003 could really match Doncic on that level (LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo). The kind of guy who can drag a cast of characters to the NBA Finals with little high-level help around them. Doncic was one of those guys, and Harrison up and traded him in some weird power play. A play that didn't work, only netting the Mavericks with an aging retirement home of 30-somethings on the downside of their careers. Not even landing Cooper Flagg will help erase the disaster that this trade caused. Mavericks fans will be mourning this move for decades to come.