Nico Harrison: "There's no regrets on the Luka Doncic trade. Part of it is doing the best thing for Mavs"

[Drygon]

[Curtis] Nico Harrison's answers to each of the questions he was asked in his meeting with the Dallas media this morning

Harrison on how he responds to the outraged fanbase and why does he think Patrick Dumont should not take them up on that advice to fire him:

“Well, the beauty of Dallas is it is a passionate fanbase. For us to reach our goals, we need that fanbase. And to be honest with you, every trade I’ve made since I’ve been here has not been regarded as a good trade. So sometimes it takes time.

When I traded for Kyrie, it was met with a lot of skepticism and it was graded as a terrible trade. You didn’t see it right away, but eventually everyone agreed that it was a great trade. When I traded for Gaff and Lively, it was like, ‘Oh, he gave up way too much.’ These guys are going to help us. Now that trade, you saw the evidence a lot sooner.

So I think a lot of times, trades take a little bit of time but our philosophy going forward is defense wins championships, and we’re built on defense. This trade cements us for that.”

Harrison on if he felt like the Mavs maximized the return for Luka, given Cuban’s “get a better deal” statement:

“When you look at this trade, we targeted AD. With our philosphy of defense wins championships, we wanted a two-way player to lead our team and that was Anthony Davis. Everyone’s going to have their criticism. I’m not sure what Mark (Cuban) said, but that’s a better question left for him. But we got what we wanted.”

Harrison on if he could do it over again, would he do it the same way given the reaction from the fan base:

“Yeah, there’s no regrets on the trade. Part of my job is to do the best thing for the Mavericks, not only today, but also in the future. Some of the decisions I’m going to make are going to be unpopular. And that’s my job and I have to stand by it. One last thing, I’ll also add that every trade I’ve done has been met with high scrutiny, and so eventually, I’ll earn the trust of this community back. Some of these trades are going to work out and they have at a high level.”

Harrison on if he sees himself in Dallas long term. Does he want to be this team’s GM in 2028, 2029?

“Yeah, I have three years left on my contract. I see myself finishing it out. In terms of Dallas, this is our home. My family, they’re going to finish school here. This is where we live, so this is where I’m living.”

Does Harrison feel like there was any underestimation on what Doncic meant to this fanbase and with that in mind, what did this trade do to his relationship with the fanbase?

“I don’t think there was an underestimation, but clearly we knew afterwards, his impact on the fanbase. I do think our intended roster we put on the floor would’ve subsided a lot of the fanbase’s vitriol, you know, because they would be out there winning. Obviously, with a lot of the injuries we weren’t able to do that and that increased and brought a lot of people that may not have even had an opinion. So that’s unfortunate.”

Does Harrison have any have any concerns about your ability to attract top talent to the Mavericks in the future, given the fallout from the trade?

“No. I don’t. I think that’s one of the reasons why I’m here. But it’s not just me. It’s Dallas. It’s one of the fifth largest metroplexes in the US. It’s a great city to live in. The fanbase is amazing. Part of the ”Fire Nico" chants, although, you would rather the fans cheer for the team and me not be the story. It’s a great fanbase and you need that fanbase to win. I think that’s an attraction. J-Kidd, a Hall of Fame point guard, is your coach. I think all of that helps to attract. It’s not just the Nico Harrison show. But to answer your question, no that won’t affect our ability to attract free agents.”

https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/mavericks/2025/04/15/mavericks-gm-nico-harrison-addresses-luka-doncic-trade-fan-outrage-future-in-dallas/

Nico Harrison on if he feels an obligation to Mavericks fans: "No, my obligations are to the Dallas Mavericks, what's in the best interests of the Dallas Mavericks. That's the most important thing."

https://streamable.com/6hib5b

Tim MacMahon: "Luka was gonna sign the supermax. Why didn't you sign him and then if you really wanted to trade him [...]"
Nico Harrison: "Well there's no guarantee he would sign a supermax"
MacMahon: "He has guaranteed it, he was bawling on the bench"
Nico: "Well like I said, we can agree to disagree"

https://www.youtube.com/live/m9FsmK6Mals?si=kL3t2-LUUSpFyy30

Dallas Mavericks CEO Rick Welts on the Luka trade: "The Golden State Warriors once traded Monta Ellis for Andrew Bogut... They got better because they had a guard named Steph Curry and Steph Curry came in and made the entire fanbase love him."

https://streamable.com/izemha

[41Dirk41]

Karma will hit them really hard. Trust me.

[Mavrelous]

Read on Twitter

?t=9yWjTRHsR4FP0Y6ZWaKkzA&s=19

[arkuo]

By now it's pretty clear Nico hasn't considered any emotional attachments fans have for Luka. Everything he said just points to Luka being an employee. And if you can get another employee doing the same job, paid the same and have the new employee be "your guy" then in his mind, it's great. Well, that's not the case for a lot of fans and now you have a lot of complaints.

[User9992]

Read on Twitter

[Mavrelous]

Yeah, financial boycott until Nico is removed and they go and beg Dirk to be the face of the org again

Read on Twitter

?t=q6_oySnyvhyh_fUZHKuJlA&s=19

[arkuo]

Yeah, financial boycott until Nico is removed and they go and beg Dirk to be the face of the org again

Read on Twitter

?t=q6_oySnyvhyh_fUZHKuJlA&s=19

Dirk for GM!

[Mavrelous]

Windhorst: Why did he have this conference Tim MacMahon?
Tim MacMahon: Because Patrick Dumont made him, he was supposed to do it 2 weeks ago and for some reason he was able to push it back, he was supposed to do it before Luka came back to town.
Widhorst: Why did Patrick Dumont wanted him to do this press conference
TM: Because it has been the worst 2.5 months of PR run that I can remember in NBA history, and I'm gonna tell you, it didn't get any better today.

[41Dirk41]

This conference put the nails on Nico Harrison coffin.
He can't survive at the summer. Trust me. He is done.

[41Dirk41]

I think his mantra "defense wins Championships" (when Dallas is worse defensely after that trade) is pathetic and i'm still continue to think that he is not beyond this trade. He can't motivate the trade because of it. He did his job and take the bag.

[Mavrelous]

Tim MacMahon is a slimy and savvy journalist, who knows what side the bread is buttered, him clowning and confronting Nico tells me he smells blood in the water, and Nico seat is very, very shaky.

Watch on YouTube

[Bob8]

Tim MacMahon is a slimy and savvy journalist, who knows what side the bread is buttered, him clowning and confronting Nico tells me he smells blood in the water, and Nico seat is very, very shaky.

Watch on YouTube

The funniest thing here is that apparently Espn finally realised that Mavs didn't lose Finals because of D.

Windy still pretty much Luka's hater. The most absurd thing is how those media parrots constantly saying, we don't know yet, if trade was bad, what if Mavs win championships. Chances for' Mavs winning championships would be very slim even if Kyrie and AD were 5 years younger and not injury prone. Like things are looking chances are nearing 0. They just can't understand that trade was disastrous in the moment fan base was hurt. That's why whatever they say makes things worse.

[BliscoSantos]

I really do wonder how in the world did Nico manage to get all the Jobs he had...he doesn't seem that bright to me...or maybe he was once, but then his ego grew and he Got in his Head that he's the main character ...this is getting weirder every minute...he already mentioned multiple times that if they were healthy we wouldn't have this conversation because winning cures everything....while I agree the team would be fun to watch, I don't think they'd be a real contender....yes ,that 3Q quarters were fun but that doesn't mean every game would go like that...you have to factor in that Players were motivated,pumped to prove them wrong that first game and you also have to factor in the fact that AD has some monster games which are normaly followed by some average games

If I'm playing for the Mavs right now I'm telling my agent to get me out of there ASAP ...this team became a joke... everybody's making fun of them...the organization has become toxic and you can't tell me that the Players aren't affected

[Teffer10]

I really do wonder how in the world did Nico manage to get all the Jobs he had...he doesn't seem that bright to me...or maybe he was once, but then his ego grew and he Got in his Head that he's the main character ...this is getting weirder every minute...he already mentioned multiple times that if they were healthy we wouldn't have this conversation because winning cures everything....while I agree the team would be fun to watch, I don't think they'd be a real contender....yes ,that 3Q quarters were fun but that doesn't mean every game would go like that...you have to factor in that Players were motivated,pumped to prove them wrong that first game and you also have to factor in the fact that AD has some monster games which are normaly followed by some average games

If I'm playing for the Mavs right now I'm telling my agent to get me out of there ASAP ...this team became a joke... everybody's making fun of them...the organization has become toxic and you can't tell me that the Players aren't affected

Personally, I think it is 100% ego on the part of Nico.

Think about it...everyone in the world perceived Luka as the face of the Mavs franchise but Luka was Donnie's catch. Nico made some great deals, and everyone thought he was a genius, but he was always going to be in Luka's shadow no matter what type of deal he would make.

Nico is basically the same as Jerry Jones in the Jimmy/Jerry ego contest of the Cowboys in the late 90s. Jerry knew he would never get credit for any Superbowl wins if Jimmy was coaching the team and the only way for him to satisfy his enormous ego was to part ways with Jimmy. Patrick was never going to become the celebrity owner Cuban was, so the door was open for Nico to become the face of the franchise, and he had control similar as Jerry to remove the one remaining obstacle.

This has nothing to do with the Mavs other than the fact they are a tool for Nico to boost his ridiculously large ego to a point of satisfaction.
He is a genius though because he really has nothing to lose. If all goes well, his ego gets satisfied. If everything falls apart, he can go back to making millions selling shoes.

[Mr B]

One thing I got out of this whole “closed press conference” is that Nico isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Anyone who is hoping he loses his job in the next couple of days is going to be disappointed. They are all in on Nico.

[arkuo]

Nico won't get fired. If he would it would have been done by now. Nico's trying to line up his contract with that of Kyrie's contract and AD's contract. He just went all in on this gig. If it doesnt work, then it doesn't work and all 3 of them leave at the same time. Mavs rebuild.

[41Dirk41]

Nico won't get fire until Dumont will be here... I just hope the Adelsons have had enough.

[arkuo]

Nico won't get fire until Dumont will be here... I just hope the Adelsons have had enough.

Miriam Adelson is like 80 years old. Patty over here is lined up to inherit it all. That's why Nico is sucking up to these billionaires.

[41Dirk41]

Nico won't get fire until Dumont will be here... I just hope the Adelsons have had enough.

Miriam Adelson is like 80 years old. Patty over here is lined up to inherit it all. That's why Nico is sucking up to these billionaires.

Yes but they lost a lot of money with that move... But probably they had their pay check too.

[arkuo]

Nico won't get fire until Dumont will be here... I just hope the Adelsons have had enough.

Miriam Adelson is like 80 years old. Patty over here is lined up to inherit it all. That's why Nico is sucking up to these billionaires.

Yes but they lost a lot of money with that move... But probably they had their pay check too.

Yeah they saved the NBA with that move. Silver should be handing them a fat paycheck for that.