Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison addressed the media during a season-ending presser on Monday.
The topics of discussion revolved mainly around the mind-boggling trade which sent All-NBA superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Harrison stood firm on his belief the deal was in the best interests of the franchise. He reiterated the belief defense wins championships but did not expand on why he felt Doncic could not fit into that ethos.
There are several key takeaways to be had from the approximately 25-minute press conference. Here are the five biggest:
Harrison Underestimated Doncic’s Relationship With Fans
The award for most puzzling statement of the presser goes to his comments on the relationship between Doncic and the fan base.
“I did know that Luka was important to the fan base, I didn’t quite know to what level,” Harrison said. “Really, the way we looked at is if you’re putting a team on the floor that’s Kyrie [Irving], Klay [Thompson], P.J. [Washington], Anthony Davis and [Dereck] Lively [III], we feel that’s a championship-caliber team and we would have been winning at a high level. That would have quieted some of the outrage.
“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to do that, so it just continued to go on and on.”
To be ignorant of the attachment Mavericks fans had to Doncic screams incompetence as GM. Trading a player who has already made five All-NBA Teams and is only just entering his prime needed a special, historic return. Harrison, as well as ownership, seem to be the only ones who believe they got that.
Avoids Discussing Anthony Davis Being Injury Prone
One of the biggest talking points of the trade was about using health and fitness to validate trading Doncic, only to acquire a player six years older with a significant injury history in Davis.
“When you trade a guy of Luka’s caliber, you’re not taking it lightly,” Harrison said when asked about Davis’ injury history. “We discussed everything but we really feel defense is our calling card, one we’re gonna hang our hat on. When you have an opportunity to get one of the best two-way players in the league, we jumped at that opportunity.”
Yes, on paper, Davis is one of the best two-way players in the game and arguably the best two-way big man. But Davis has also played at least 65 games in just one of the past seven seasons.
Doncic only played 50 regular season games this year but he has played at least 65 games in all but one of his six prior seasons.
Harrison Defends Himself Against ‘Fire Nico’ Chants
Since the Doncic trade, “Fire Nico!” chants have become tradition at American Airlines Center.
That’s not a pleasant experience for anyone to experience, and Harrison was directly asked during the presser why 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 injuries this year,” Harrison said. “You have to judge the totality from beginning to end. I think I have a really good working relationship with (Mavericks owner) Patrick [Dumont], I think you add in (CEO) Rick [Welts], the leadership we have is really elite.
“You’ll see next year when our team comes back, we’re gonna be competing for a championship.”
During Harrison’s tenure, Doncic, Jalen Brunson and Kristaps Porzingis are the most notable players to have departed via trade or free agency. Trading Porzingis did ultimately net Irving in a subsequent deal. Gafford, Thompson and Washington are other notable acquisitions.
Quentin Grimes could have been one but was traded this past deadline.
Harrison Expects Title Contention Next Year
Despite Irving suffering an ACL injury which will rule him out for at least the first half of next season, Harrison expects the team to contend for the title next year.
He believes it’s the best way to repair the relationship with the fans. He also expects Irving to re-sign with Dallas this summer. Irving has a $44 million player option he must decide on this offseason.
“It’s too early to speculate what Kyrie’s gonna do, but what I do feel is gonna happen is he’s gonna be a Maverick next year,” Harrison said.
On how the Mavs can cope in Irving’s absence next season, Harrison leaned toward other players having to step up in his absence.
Irving suffered the injury in early March and a recovery is expected to range from nine to 12 months. Considering Irving has a history of knee injuries, it would not be surprising to see him lean toward the longer end of that recovery.
In a stacked Western Conference, it will be impressive if the Mavs can be in the thick of the playoff hunt by the time Irving returns. Harrison seems to be clutching at straws here. He said on multiple occasions he doesn’t consider worst-case scenarios because he’s an eternal optimist but part of his job is to consider the downside of any transaction he makes and evaluate accordingly.
Dumont Chuckled At Doncic Trade Proposal, Did Not Ask For It
There have been whispers this trade only becomes a possibility if Dumont was unwilling to pay Doncic the Supermax, with the idea Dumont pushed Harrison to find a way to deal the Slovenian.
Harrison may be just doing his job and protecting ownership here, but he said the deal was all his idea and Dumont even laughed when he first heard of it.
“It wasn’t really a laugh, it was more of a chuckle,” Harrison said. “Really, it was just I had said it out of the blue. As we started talking more, I gave him reasoning around it. We’re a very process-oriented organization and everything we do is without emotion and goes through the lens of process.
“Once we had those substantive discussions, then he saw the vision.”
