Along with new Dallas CEO Rick Welts, general manager Nico Harrison held an hour-long session on Tuesday morning with a select group of sport press, before tonight’s play-in tournament clash against Sacramento. As the media addressed Luka Doncic’s deadline trade, he insisted he has “no regrets.”
The executive repeatedly used his mantra of “defense wins championships,” as a shield to excuse the controversial decision made with the Slovenian superstar, who is now excelling in Los Angeles. The Mavericks fan base have chanted for his firing, as they continue to feel outraged by the trade.
“There’s no regrets on the trade,” Nico assured during the press conference. “Part of my job is to do the best thing for the Mavericks, not only today, but also in the future, and some of the decisions I’m going to make are going to be unpopular. That’s my job, and I have to stand by it.”
The trade that brought 32-year-old veteran Anthony Davis to Texas, was made only months after Luka had led Dallas to the NBA Finals. Harrison explained how the deals for Kyrie Irving, Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington, had been made to construct a more balanced roster, in search for the championship.
“Well, the beauty of Dallas is it is a passionate fan base,” the GM said. “For us to reach our goals, we need that fan base. And to be honest with you, every trade I’ve made since I’ve been here has not been regarded as a good trade, and so sometimes it takes time.”
He then defended his vision: “When I traded for Kyrie, it was met with a lot of skepticism and it was graded as a terrible trade and you didn’t see it right away, but eventually everyone agreed that that was a great trade. When I traded for [Gafford] and [Washington] again, it was like, ‘Oh, he gave up way too much.'”
“I’ll say this again: Defense wins championships,” Nico said, even though the Mavs had been the NBA’s top-ranked defense during the final 20 matches of last season. Even though Boston beat Dallas in the Finals, their defensive strategy wasn’t their biggest problem.
