{"id":45658,"date":"2025-11-11T23:56:30","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T23:56:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/45658\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T23:56:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T23:56:30","slug":"while-mavericks-long-nightmare-is-far-from-over-firing-nico-harrison-had-to-be-done","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/45658\/","title":{"rendered":"While Mavericks\u2019 long nightmare is far from over, firing Nico Harrison had to be done"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the moment he hit town assuring us in buttery tones that he\u2019d lead with a \u201cservant\u2019s heart,\u201d Nico Harrison<\/a> fooled everyone, right up to the night he wrecked the franchise nine months ago before leaving it in ruins Tuesday.<\/a><\/p>\n

No one saw the real Nico until it was too late. Not Mark Cuban, who hired him.<\/a> Not Patrick Dumont, who trusted him.<\/a><\/p>\n

Not those of us who couldn\u2019t have imagined such an unassuming, reclusive character would do more damage to an organization in nine months than Jerry Jones has managed with the Cowboys in all his bluster over the last 30 years.<\/p>\n

Dumont\u2019s dismissal of the man who will forever be remembered for one of the worst trades ever puts an end to the \u201cFire Nico\u201d chants pulsating through local arenas<\/a>, even if the Mavs\u2019 long nightmare is far from over.<\/p>\n

Mavericks<\/p>\n

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There\u2019s no quick fix for a mess even Dirk Nowitzki, gentlest of icons, called out recently in a national forum.<\/a><\/p>\n

Hard to say if Dirk\u2019s incisive criticism \u2014 \u201cThey can\u2019t shoot, they can\u2019t make plays. Nobody can make shots. It\u2019s been tough to watch\u201d \u2014 was the last straw. In his open letter to customers Tuesday, which served as little more than a weak apology for the disaster, Dumont acknowledged the \u201cprofound impact\u201d of events since the February trade of Luka Doncic.<\/a> He didn\u2019t say how long it took him to come to such an obvious conclusion.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/p>\n

For a shark-infested bunch that couldn\u2019t wait to get into it with the Stars<\/a>, these Vegas people have been surprisingly slow on the uptake when it comes to the locals.<\/p>\n

First they misjudged the blowback from dumping Luka, a transaction that went over locally like Nolan Ryan\u2019s exit from the Rangers. Then they cynically figured everyone would get over it just as soon as the Mavs started winning.<\/p>\n

Only they\u2019re not winning, not even close, and nothing, not even the return of Kyrie Irving, suggests they\u2019ll do so with the roster Nico\u2019s constructed.<\/p>\n

Remember when Luka\u2019s critics promised the offense and defense would improve in his absence because the ball would move more?<\/p>\n

Have you watched the Mavs when they have the ball? The last time I saw an offense like this, we took it for snow cones afterward.<\/p>\n

What makes Nico\u2019s nine-month reign of error so bewildering is that, pretty much right up until he traded Luka \u2014 then doubled down by sending Quentin Grimes to the 76ers<\/a> for Dwight Powell\u2019s seatmate \u2014 he had my vote as the best personnel guy in the market. He\u2019d made mistakes \u2013 trading a first-rounder for Christian Wood comes to mind \u2014 but any GM you\u2019d want in charge of your team\u2019s aspirations makes a few. Nico got out from under Kristaps Porzingis\u2019 contract as well as Davis Bertans\u2019. His additions of P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford and the drafting of Dereck Lively II gave Dallas\u2019 defense a backbone.<\/a><\/p>\n

Nico\u2019s most impressive feat? Turning around Kyrie\u2019s career. The mercurial point guard arrived in Dallas with enough baggage to back up a D-FW carousel into next week, yet he\u2019s become a team leader and fan favorite.<\/a><\/p>\n

Amidst the Mavs\u2019 rise, Nico was practically a ghost. He didn\u2019t come out much, and when he did, he didn\u2019t say anything of consequence. Most GMs puff up like peacocks when their teams win. Nico remained in the shadows, which gave him the cover he needed to further his agenda.<\/p>\n

One of the first signs things were unraveling came with the dismissal of Casey Smith, the team\u2019s highly respected athletic trainer. Also a close friend of Dirk\u2019s as well as Luka. Other staff moves followed. An image developed behind the scenes of a \u201cmy-way-or-the-highway\u201d boss.<\/p>\n

Then came conspiratorial whispers about Luka\u2019s conditioning, his defense, his stubbornness. Talk that Luka\u2019s lifestyle left him with only a five-year window to win it all.<\/p>\n

Even if the complaints had merit, they never rose to the level of trading an MVP-caliber player at 25. No one could have imagined a GM making such a mistake.<\/p>\n

But what we learned about Nico over the last year or so is that he\u2019s a \u201ctrue believer\u201d in the worst sense of the description. His style of management left no room for equivocation. Tolerated no dissent. Once committed, he was all-in, ramifications be damned.<\/a><\/p>\n

Cuban tried to talk him out of trading Luka, but by then he\u2019d learned Nico wasn\u2019t the yes-man he thought he\u2019d hired. Besides, it was no longer Cuban\u2019s call. That responsibility fell to Dumont, who, at best, was too green to understand the magnitude of the error before him.<\/p>\n

Or too consumed with the green he sees in a would-be casino.<\/p>\n

Now that it\u2019s done, the first job for interim co-GM Michael Finley<\/a>, another Mavs icon, is to bring Dirk back into the fold. A hard get. The Mavs got rid of two of his favorite people. The organizational chart doesn\u2019t look much like it did three years ago.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/p>\n

Next, the Mavs need to figure out where this team is headed before the trade deadline and act accordingly. Package Anthony Davis and Klay Thompson for a first-round pick if it doesn\u2019t pick up by then. Build a roster around Cooper Flagg. He\u2019s not Luka, but then neither is AD or Kyrie or anyone who\u2019s ever likely to pass this way again.<\/p>\n

The Mavs finally conceded the mistake Tuesday. Doesn\u2019t matter if they did it to stop the chants or turn the page or sell a casino. They did what had to be done. The bad news is, no matter what they do, Luka\u2019s not coming back. The good news is, neither is Nico.<\/p>\n

Twitter\/X: @KSherringtonDMN<\/a><\/p>\n

Find more Mavericks coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From the moment he hit town assuring us in buttery tones that he\u2019d lead with a \u201cservant\u2019s heart,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2353,102,104,2582,103,2868,4646,4281,3080,6538,6468,154],"class_list":{"0":"post-45658","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-commentary","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-headlines","11":"tag-dallas-mavericks","12":"tag-dallas-news","13":"tag-dirk-nowitzki","14":"tag-luka-doncic","15":"tag-mavericks","16":"tag-nba","17":"tag-nico-harrison","18":"tag-patrick-dumont","19":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}