Nico Harrison has been fired
Nine months and change after convincing his owner they should trade away generational superstar Luka Dončić, Dallas' under-fire GM was dismissed in the midst of a 3-8 start
Soon after the Dallas Mavericks agreed to send Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers in a trade that was almost instantly and universally branded as perhaps the worst in the NBA history, Nico Harrison announced at a hastily arranged news conference in Cleveland on Feb. 2: "Time will tell if I’m right."
Not even 10 months later, Harrison was summoned Tuesday morning to a meeting by Mavericks owner Patrick Dumont and informed that he will get no further time to try to prove his costly and flawed gamble correct.
Some two hours after a tweet from The Stein Line that the move was imminent, Harrison was formally fired by Dumont with the Mavericks in the midst of a 3-8 start amid a very soft early schedule. Even with the presence of Cooper Flagg on the roster via a draft lottery miracle in May that delivered the No. 1 overall pick to Dallas, those early struggles and the fan dismay they quickly reignited snuffed out any remaining hope that the former Nike executive had for salvaging his name in North Texas.
Dumont is not holding a news conference to field questions about Harrison's ouster or the past nine months post-Dončić but sent a letter to Mavericks fans that in part read: "You have high expectations for the Mavericks and I share them with you. When the results don't meet expectations, it's my responsibility to act. I've made the decision to part ways with general manager Nico Harrison."