Mavericks fire GM Nico Harrison 9
months after widely panned Luka Doncic trade
[November 12, 2025]
By SCHUYLER DIXON
DALLAS (AP) — The Dallas Mavericks fired general manager Nico
Harrison on Tuesday, an admission nine months later that the widely
criticized trade of Luka Doncic backfired on the franchise.
The move came a day after Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont attended
a 116-114 loss to the Bucks in which fans again chanted “fire Nico,”
a familiar refrain since the blockbuster deal in February that
brought Anthony Davis from the Los Angeles Lakers and angered the
Dallas fan base.
The Mavericks appointed Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi as
co-interim general managers to oversee basketball operations.
Dumont’s hope for goodwill with the fans never came even after
Dallas landed No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg with just a 1.8%
chance to win the draft lottery.
There have been plenty of empty seats in the upper deck of American
Airlines Center this season, something not seen consistently since
2018, when the Mavericks traded up to get Doncic with the third
overall pick.
Doncic was a 25-year-old generational point guard in his prime when
Harrison unloaded him for the oft-injured Davis, who has missed 30
of 44 regular-season games since his arrival in February.
Harrison was in his fourth season and had engineered three trades
that helped the Mavs go on a run to the Western Conference finals in
2022 and the NBA Finals two years later.
The Doncic trade and a slow start to the first full season without
the young superstar led to a stunning downfall for Harrison, who
declined to comment to The Associated Press. Dallas is 3-8, and
Davis has missed six of the 11 games with a calf injury.
“No one associated with the Mavericks organization is happy with the
start of what we all believed would be a promising season,” Dumont
wrote in a letter to fans. “You have high expectations for the
Mavericks, and I share them with you. When the results don’t meet
expectations, it’s my responsibility to act.”
While Dumont didn't directly mention the Doncic trade in the letter,
he acknowledged the vitriolic reaction of fans, who protested after
the shocking deal. The Las Vegas-based Dumont and Adelson families,
who bought the Mavericks from Mark Cuban in late 2023, were targets
of the criticism as well.
“I understand the profound impact these difficult last several
months have had,” Dumont wrote. “Please know that I’m fully
committed to the success of the Mavericks.”
Dumont approved Harrison’s decision to trade Doncic, which kept the
Mavericks from having to commit to a $346 million, five-year
supermax extension for the Slovenian star.
Harrison tried to defend the deal by repeating a “defense wins
championships” line. But with Davis sidelined by a calf injury and
star guard Kyrie Irving still out after tearing the ACL in his left
knee last March, defense hasn’t mattered much because Dallas has one
of the worst offenses in the NBA.
With Davis and Irving playing together for just part of one game
last season, the Mavericks missed the playoffs a year after Doncic
led them to the NBA Finals.
[to top of second column] |
Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison speaks during a press
conference at the NBA basketball team's basketball practice
facility, Friday, June 27, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Tony
Gutierrez, File)
The slow, injury-plagued start to this season for
the Mavericks coincided with Doncic joining Wilt Chamberlain as the
only NBA players to open a season with three consecutive games of at
least 40 points.
Doncic’s historic run was interrupted by a three-game injury
absence, but the Lakers won twice without him and are 8-3.
Harrison had spent 20 years with Nike and had close relationships
with several NBA stars, including the late Kobe Bryant, when Cuban
hired him in 2021.
The hiring of Harrison was the first step in trying to restore
stability after former general manager Donnie Nelson was fired, then
Rick Carlisle resigned as coach a day later. Nelson and Carlisle had
been together for 13 years.
Harrison hired Jason Kidd as coach, and the Mavericks reached the
Western Conference finals their first season together after
Harrison’s first blockbuster trade.
He broke up the European pairing of Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis
and got Spencer Dinwiddie, who played a key supporting role with
Doncic as the Mavericks stunned Phoenix with a Game 7 blowout in the
second round before losing to Golden State in five games.
A year later, Dinwiddie was part of the next blockbuster trade,
which brought Irving from Brooklyn. The Mavericks faltered the rest
of that season largely because of injuries, but they reached their
first NBA Finals in 13 years in 2023-24, led by the pair of star
guards. Dallas lost to Boston in five games.
That deep playoff run came in the first six months after Cuban sold
the team. He said then that he would maintain control of basketball
operations, but that didn’t happen.
Dumont quickly put full control of the basketball side in the hands
of Harrison, who saw Davis as a championship-caliber player in the
mold of Bryant. Davis won a title with LeBron James and the Lakers
in 2020.
Cuban criticized the trade of Doncic, saying he never would have
approved it and adding that he didn’t think Dallas got enough in
return. Months later, though, Cuban credited Harrison for his salary
cap management.
Finley, who was Harrison's top assistant and has been in the Dallas
front office for a decade, was a two-time All-Star for the Mavericks
in the early 2000s when Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki was coming of
age.
Finley had moved on to San Antonio when Nowitzki led the Mavericks
to the NBA Finals in 2006. Dallas lost to Miami that year but beat
the Heat five years later for the franchise's only championship.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
