Harrison has been fired<\/a> after being drowned in \u2018Fire Nico\u2019 chants at Dallas games in a revolt from irate fans.<\/p>\nLakers counterpart Rob Pelinka is smirking to himself somewhere. He occasionally has to pinch himself and think: \u2018Wait, how did I pull this off again?\u2019<\/p>\n
Yep, all that happened \u2026<\/p>\n
The Luka Doncic trade backfired secularly for the Mavericks.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
Could it possibly be playing out any worse for the Mavericks? And conversely, any better for the Lakers? Yet at the same time, could it have been any more predictable?<\/p>\n
The most unthinkable, shocking and inconceivable trade in NBA history didn\u2019t make sense at the time. And it will never, ever make sense.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s still impossible to get your head around.<\/p>\n
It was, and remains, the most stupefying and mind boggling gamble imaginable from Dallas. And the biggest fall-in-your-lap jackpot for LA and free ticket to life after LeBron James.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to articulate just how catastrophic it\u2019s been for the Mavericks.<\/p>\n
Luka Doncic was a generational superstar still entering his prime, already a five-time All-NBA First Team representative and five-time All-Star.<\/p>\n
He took the Mavericks to the NBA Finals some seven months before the trade. Seven months! The NBA Finals!<\/p>\n
And already reached cult hero\/legend status for the franchise before turning 26 and set to be its greatest ever player.<\/p>\n
They struck gold in drafting this guy who wanted to play his entire career at Dallas.<\/p>\n
He was adored by fans like a member of their family. You sense there\u2019s a few pets named Luka throughout Texas.<\/p>\n
And yet \u2026<\/p>\n
The Slovenian superstar was moved in the middle of the night, without even being shopped around, after private trade discussions with just one team.<\/p>\n
Had Doncic been put on the market, it would\u2019ve yielded some sort of all-time haul.<\/p>\n
Imagine selling top five real estate in the world privately for way unders \u2026<\/p>\n
7 FOOT 9! – ‘Tallest Basketball Player’ | 00:37<\/p>\n
Consider that the likes of Desmond Bane, Mikal Bridges and Rudy Gobert commanded mega hauls of multiple first-round picks in trades in recent years.<\/p>\n
The return for Doncic? Davis, Max Christie and a first-round pick \u2026<\/p>\n
Clearly, Davis alone was worth a few first-round picks. But to make an injury-prone 30-year old the centrepiece of the package was foolish in its own right. And Davis\u2019 value is only going in the wrong direction.<\/p>\n
The aftermath of the trade has been a dark cloud hanging over Dallas ever since.<\/p>\n
\u201cFire Nico! Fire Nico! Fire Nico!,\u201d \u2014 the all-too-painfully-familiar chants drowning out America Airlines Center along with similarly derogatory signs.
The dismal of the man responsible for the deal will help clear that dark cloud, to an extent, but it\u2019ll continue to haunt the team for some time. <\/p>\n
At least, so long as Doncic is wearing the purple and gold \u2026 and whatever he achieves there.<\/p>\n
But does it even matter at this point whether Doncic and the Lakers win a title? Given the collateral damage and way it\u2019s completely and utterly alienated the Mavs fan base.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s just the optics and emotion of it all. From a sheer basketball perspective, it looks to have set Dallas a ways back. <\/p>\n
Granted, the Mavericks have been hit by injuries to their best two players, with Davis currently sidelined with a calf issue and Kyrie Irving brutally struck down with an ACL injury.<\/p>\n
But they knew what they were getting themselves into when they banked on two injury prone players in their 30s.<\/p>\n
And sure, you can blame injuries for anything. But some point history is what history is.<\/p>\n
Proctor ignites in the fourth | 01:07<\/p>\n
Thus, there were basically two big problems with the Doncic trade, beyond shipping him out in the first place.<\/p>\n
One, they didn\u2019t get enough back in the deal for one of the most valuable assets in NBA history.<\/p>\n
It had to include an assortment of draft picks in addition to a star level player the Mavs could hang their hat on for the next few years.<\/p>\n
And Austin Reaves simply had to be part of the deal.<\/p>\n
Even if you added Reaves to the package they got, it would\u2019ve been unders. And that\u2019s with the star Lakers guard elevating his game to become a genuine top-line star. He\u2019s averaged 30.3 points, five rebounds, nine assists, 2.9 threes and 1.5 steals per game so far in a career-best season.<\/p>\n
The other hitch is that Dallas banked on the health of Davis, one of the most injury prone players in the NBA.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s absolutely no denying the 10-time All-Star and Lakers championship big\u2019s abilities. He\u2019s just not on the court enough.<\/p>\n
In fact, the 32-year old has played in just 16 of a possible 43 games for the Mavericks \u2014 or 37 per cent. And he\u2019s played over 60 games just once in the last seven seasons, plus big men\u2019s bodies don\u2019t typically age well in the NBA.<\/p>\n
Again, basketball aside, Harrison and the Mavericks ultimately underestimated the level of rage and disharmony of fans that sending out a franchise cornerstone would create.<\/p>\n
Sport is more about winning titles. It\u2019s about fanfare and general love and passion.<\/p>\n
Players like Doncic come around once in a blue moon, and many fans would\u2019ve attended or watched games for the Slovenian superstar alone.<\/p>\n
Take that away and you break the hearts of people and trigger a wave of devastation, disharmony and vitriol.<\/p>\n
Lakers’ comeback over Spurs | 01:52<\/p>\n
Not to mention the way it\u2019s clearly lit a fire under a motivated and trimmed-down Doncic, who\u2019s at the absolute peak of his powers and paying as well as anyone in the league.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s averaged 37.1 points, 9.4 rebounds and 8.1 assists per game. Case in point.<\/p>\n
And this all comes with the backdrop of the Mavericks hitting the jackpot and landing No. 1 daft pick Cooper Flagg with 1.8 per cent lottery odds.<\/p>\n
Which, basically gave Harrison an out. A team that went all-in on win-now mode and a defence heavy line-up also had a future cornerstone. <\/p>\n
They had their cake and ate it too. Even if having two timelines is hard to manoeuvre and nail.<\/p>\n
But not even Flagg, yet to hit his straps in an uncustomary point guard role, could salvage the wreckage that is the aftermath of the Doncic trade that backfired spectacularly. At least, not yet. <\/p>\n
Or help mend a fractured fan base and team at large.<\/p>\n
The fact the Flagg couldn\u2019t dilute some of the negativity and lift the vibes speaks volumes. <\/p>\n
Granted, he\u2019s only 18 years old, so the on-court stuff is a big ask right now, as talented as he is.<\/p>\n
Imagine if they didn\u2019t get Flag, as was a 98.2 per cent chance \u2026 <\/p>\n
McGee drops 37-PTS in Hawks upset | 01:21<\/p>\n
So what\u2019s next for Dallas and whoever takes over as its new general manager?<\/p>\n
Davis\u2019 future has to come into the spotlight and the possibility of exploring his trade market. That wouldn\u2019t have been the case with Harrison running the show.<\/p>\n
But already a big man-heavy roster is imbalanced, hence Flagg sliding down to the one with Irving sidelined.<\/p>\n
So unless this team can drastically turn things around and become the contender Harrison envisioned, building around Flagg should be the priority. <\/p>\n
Trading Davis \u2014 owed $175 million (AUD $268 million) over the next three seasons \u2014 while he has value, even if it\u2019s diminished, makes some sense. But don\u2019t expect to attach a pick and a role player and get a Doncic-esque level of player in return.<\/p>\n
Irving and others could also be on the trade block.<\/p>\n
Dallas owns its 2025 first-round draft pick but loses control over all its other first rounders for the rest of the decade.<\/p>\n
Those picks were all moved to build a contender around Doncic \u2026<\/p>\n
It makes a traditional rebuild harder to justify, unless they can get some of their picks back. But building around Flagg doesn\u2019t necessarily need to mean completely bottoming out, for they\u2019ve already got their long-term superstar. <\/p>\n
Hard to identify an alternative plan. Particularly if when \u2014 or if \u2014 they get healthy and remain a rung or two below the real contenders in the West.<\/p>\n
One thing\u2019s clear. Whatever the plan was under Harrison has been scrunched up and thrown out.<\/p>\n
There was something poetic about Doncic pouring in 38 points and continuing LA\u2019s strong start to the season on the same day the Davis-less Mavs\u2019 slump rolled on. Despite Flagg\u2019s career-best performance.<\/p>\n
It felt like the breaking point for a franchise and final nail in the coffin for Harrison after a tumultuous nine months.<\/p>\n
He preached that \u201cdefence wins championships\u201d after acquiring Davis, who was supposed to encapsulate that new identity.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s blown up in their face. And now an 18-year old stands as the key figure to pick up the pieces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cTime will tell if I\u2019m right.\u201d Dallas general manager Nico Harrison said after trading Luka Doncic to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279298,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[161842,161834,2095,161829,16107,64,63,684,49796,69047,161840,31213,2066,161839,50270,161832,7235,146690,161825,800,161844,38334,42259,36866,161830,161826,7896,161831,140779,23898,590,29558,2041,2067,161828,161838,161837,161836,1003,106304,48479,60872,161835,161827,161843,85,161833,157536,3370,63380,42264,158405,2614,161841,3601,81507],"class_list":["post-279297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-all-too-painfully-familiar-chants","tag-alternative-plan","tag-america","tag-america-airlines-center","tag-anthony-davis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-ben-cotton","tag-calf-issue","tag-caliber-season","tag-career-best-performance","tag-career-best-season","tag-chicago-bulls","tag-clutch-plays","tag-collateral-damage","tag-cult-hero-legend-status","tag-dallas-mavericks","tag-dark-cloud","tag-defence-wins-championships","tag-espn-inc","tag-fall-in-your-lap-jackpot","tag-fan-base","tag-first-round-picks","tag-fourth-quarter-comeback","tag-fractured-fan-base","tag-franchise-cornerstone","tag-lebron-james","tag-lottery-odds","tag-man-responsible","tag-max-christie","tag-nba","tag-nico-harrison","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-point-history","tag-private-trade-discussions","tag-proctor-ignites","tag-real-contenders","tag-real-estate","tag-rob-pelinka","tag-role-player","tag-rudy-gobert","tag-sensational-fourth-quarter-performance","tag-sheer-basketball-perspective","tag-shocking-trade","tag-sports","tag-star-level-player","tag-tallest-basketball-player","tag-texas","tag-trade-market","tag-trade-value","tag-tyrese-proctor","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-valuable-assets","tag-washington","tag-way-unders"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n