In the wake of the Dallas Mavericks' shocking decision to trade Luka Doncic, reports emerged that the Mavericks were critical of Doncic's diet and conditioning, which they believed were hurting his ability to stay healthy.
Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison has publicly justified the trade by repeatedly saying "defense wins championships" as the reason they sent out Doncic to acquire Anthony Davis Harrison also said last week that he has "no regrets" over trading Doncic.
Doncic responded to the reports and comments from Harrison during a sit-down interview with ESPN's Malika Andrews last week, calling them "sad."
"It's just sad the way he's talking right now," Doncic told Andrews. "I never say anything bad about him. And I just want to move on. The fans, my ex-teammates always keep it hard—it's time for me to move on from that."
Harrison replied to those comments from Doncic on Monday, insisting that he's never "spoken ill" of Doncic.
"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," Harrison said.
Nico: "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" https://t.co/AKpELo5HRl pic.twitter.com/qdbkf4cdp4
— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) April 21, 2025
Harrison recently also refuted reports that he had concerns over Doncic's conditioning before they traded him to Los Angeles.
"No, Luka's an extremely talented player as we all know, we've all seen," Harrison said last week. "He's probably dropped the most points when maybe he's not in the best conditioning, so he can do that. That's not an issue."
Harrison can insist he's never spoken poorly about Doncic, but it's doubtful many will believe that claim.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Mavericks GM Nico Harrison Denies That He's Ever Spoken Poorly of Luka Doncic.
