Nico Harrison On Trading Luka Doncic: Mavs Got Ahead Of Potential 'Tumultuous Summer'

[RealGM Wiretap]

The Dallas Mavericks got ahead of a potentially "tumultuous summer" of negotiating a supermax contract extension with Luka Doncic, general manager Nico Harrison told Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News. 

“We really feel like we got ahead of what was going to be a tumultuous summer, him being eligible for the supermax and also a year away from him being able to opt out of any contract.

"And so we really felt like we got out in front of that. We know teams, they’ve had it out there, teams have been loading up to try to sign him once that comes available," reasoned Harrison on why he dealt Doncic for a packaging including Anthony Davis.

The Mavs began hesitating over giving Doncic a supermax extension months ago due to his lack of conditioning. 

The Mavs also reportedly approached another team besides the Lakers about trading for Doncic. 

Doncic is no longer eligible for the five-year, $345 million supermax. 

Harrison added that he texted and left a phone message for Doncic, but has not directly communicated with him. 

Via Brad Townsend/The Dallas Morning News

[MegaJ]

Sounds like Nico doesn’t like to work.

[Jabroni Lames]

lol. So Mavs GM openly admits that teams would’ve been lining up with godfather offers for Luka in the offseason? What the actual fk?

[Bolsolixo]

Now he have a tumultuous midseason

[Alex_84]

Can these front office MF-ers ever use normal english words?

[xchange55]

I kind of wonder if by tumultous they meant they wanted a Zion like contract with provisions to get out if Luka didn't meet certain health/weight conditions. Of course Luka would be offended by it.

Luka is obviously a super popular player now league/country/world wide so everyone is viewing it from one side now. But let's see how it looks in 2-3 years. I really would not be surprised if Luka (unless he changes his ways) ends up like Kahwi/Zion/Embiid - always out with nagging injuries.

I was actually pretty surprised to see that in his early 20 year old seasons he's already missing 10-20 games every single year. The body is only going to heal slower the older he gets and he might end up missing 30 this year.

[xchange55]

lol. So Mavs GM openly admits that teams would’ve been lining up with godfather offers for Luka in the offseason? What the actual fk?

Nico worked for Nike for almost 2 decades and reached VP. I really wouldn't be surprised if this is some inside job by Nike to get Luka to LA to help promote shoes/jersey/fan gear made by... Nike!

[hyberx]

Imagine the haul he would have gotten for Luka if other teams know Luka would be available for a bidding war. Every other team would come to the table. But no, let's trade Luka for an often-injured 32-year-old Street Clothes AD and call it a day. LOL, brilliant!