“I did know that Luka was important to the fanbase. I didn’t quite know to what level”
Nico Harrison, Mavericks GM, comes out looking bad after season-end press conference: “I’ve actually never spoken ill of Luka at all and I’m just ready to move on”
It was a hectic Monday in Dallas, another tough day for Mavericks fans who’ve been taking hit after hit since that fateful February 2nd—the day Luka Dončić was traded to the Lakers. On the same day ESPN’s Tim MacMahon published a damning article detailing the crisis that led to the Slovenian star’s exit, Nico Harrison held his end-of-season press conference. A standard move for any team wrapping up its year (the Mavs were eliminated in the second play-in game by the Grizzlies and missed the playoffs), but this time it carried more weight: it was the first time Harrison—the GM who traded away Dončić in what was essentially a personal feud—was publicly facing the Dallas media.
A few days earlier, Harrison had spoken out, but only because his boss, Patrick Dumont (the head of the new ownership group), forced him to. That talk happened behind closed doors, with only a select group of reporters—no cameras, no recorders.
Once again, the former Nike executive did himself no favors, making statements that were, at best, confusing. They did nothing to shift public perception, which has reached rock bottom for him both professionally and personally. Right now, Harrison is Dallas’s public enemy number one. And his comments offered no comfort to Mavericks fans—quite the opposite, in fact. Every new episode seems to rub more salt into wounds that show no sign of healing anytime soon.
Especially when Harrison says things like this: “I did know that Luka was important to the fanbase. I didn’t quite know to what level. Really, the way we looked at it was if you’re putting a team on the floor that’s Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington, Anthony Davis and Derrick Lively, we feel that’s a championship-caliber team. And we would’ve been winning at a high level and that would have quieted some of the outrage. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to do that.”
“I believe winning will help repair the relationship with the fans,” Harrison said in the press conference. Harrison appeared nervous, repeated the old mantra about defense winning championships, and pointed to injuries (which were genuinely a major issue) as the main reason for such a chaotic season that ended without playoff basketball
He also defended the return package in the Dončić trade, insisting it wasn’t as bad as some made it out to be: “The biggest thing is if you don’t value AD as an All-NBA player and an All-Defensive player, then you’re not going to like him,”
Another statement that’s sure to frustrate fans came when he was asked why he believes he shouldn’t be fired: ”I think I’ve done a really good job here, and I don’t think I can be judged by the injuries this year“.
On his relationship with Dončić, Harrison echoed the Slovenian’s recent comments to Malika Andrews (ESPN), in which Luka said he was ready to move on from February’s events: I feel the same way he does, I’ve actually never spoken ill of Luka at all and I’m just ready to move on with this team that we have.”
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