The trade of Luka Doncic continues to cause a great stir even months later. A report reveals how the former Mavs GM convinced the owner of the trade.
The trade of Luka Doncic hasn’t even been a year, and it is already undoubtedly one of the worst trades in NBA history.
While the Los Angeles Lakers, with a Doncic in MVP form, are in fourth place in the Western Conference with eleven wins from 15 games in the young season, the Dallas Mavericks have only won four of their 16 games and are in third-to-last place in the same conference.
Luka Doncic has a good laugh with the Los Angeles Lakers
NBA: The person responsible for the Doncic earthquake has already been fired
One reason for this is that Anthony Davis, the very player who was identified as the savior counterpart for Doncic, is injured again. He has only been able to play five games this season so far.
The man who is responsible for the trade is now history at the Mavs: Nico Harrison was fired after the sporting decline. Now, more and more absurd details about the Doncic earthquake are coming to light.
Did Harrison isolate ex-owner Cuban?
Harrison is said to have gradually convinced the owner of the Mavericks, Patrick Dumont, of the Doncic trade with sometimes adventurous reasons.
This is at least reported by the always well-informed NBA insider Tim MacMahon at ESPN . In a detailed report, the journalist traces in detail how Harrison gradually built a close relationship with Dumont and then used it for the trade.
According to this, after the sale of the Mavericks by long-time owner Mark Cuban to an investor group around Dumont, Harrison succeeded in isolating Cuban, who actually wanted to continue to exert influence in the sporting area.
“Nico said internally that he no longer wanted to work with Mark. He would interfere too much,” explained an unnamed source from the Mavs environment at ESPN . At the latest after the sale, he then began to “play with Dumont.”
How “the silent assassin” conquered power at the Mavs
Particularly astonishing: Harrison is said to have even hinted at such an intrigue with Cuban during their time working together. He told Cuban that at Nike, where Harrison had previously worked, he was called “the silent assassin” because he would secretly pull the strings until he achieved his goals.
Harrison then conquered sole power at the Mavs pretty quickly. Also thanks to smaller, clever trades that the GM was responsible for, the team moved into the NBA Finals. “From that point on, from Dumont’s point of view, he couldn’t do anything wrong,” said the source from the Mavs environment.
Nico Harrison was fired in Dallas
Harrison used this final entry internally, reported an official from the Mavericks: “He was incredible at selling himself. For every success we had, he celebrated himself.”
With this behavior, the GM increasingly isolated himself from the rest of those responsible in Dallas, but at the same time intensified his relationship with NBA newcomer Dumont, who was not an expert in the field.
Harrison absolutely wanted to get rid of Doncic, a “terrible investment”
Harrison then used his good relationship with the owner to implement his visions – no matter the cost. Especially with regard to Doncic, he only informed Dumont one-sidedly or simply swept clear pro-arguments for the Slovenian under the table.
In order to initiate the actually illogical trade, he began to pull at Doncic behind closed doors and talk extremely badly about the superstar.
His main argument: From a business point of view, a supermax contract extension over five years and 345 million dollars required in the following summer would not have made sense. Especially because, from the former manager’s point of view, Doncic has a fitness problem.
Harrison’s argument: The Slovenian is a “terrible investment” because he has an unprofessional and bad lifestyle off the court. In addition, he is extremely prone to injury with recurring calf problems and there is always a risk that “his body could collapse under the strain.”
Harrison saw Doncic as the reason for the final defeat
At that time, Harrison also clashed with the Doncic camp several times because both sides had different ideas about the superstar’s rehabilitation measures. Doncic was out at the time with a calf injury.
The fact that the superstar listened more to his own team during the healing process was used by the GM to give Dumont the impression that the Slovenian “would not fully commit to the Mavericks.”
An even more absurd reason seems to be another reason that Harrison is said to have given: He fully convinced Dumont that Doncic’s weak defensive performance was the reason for the Mavericks’ defeat in the NBA Finals.
However, he ignored an important detail: Doncic went into the final series injured, into which he had previously carried his team despite the injury.
Docic trade backfires for Mavericks
In the end, the Mavericks owner was actually convinced by Harrison’s vision to build the best defense in the league around Anthony Davis.
A decision that turned out to be a catastrophic misjudgment. Without much negotiating with other teams, “to keep the circle as small as possible so that nothing is leaked to the press,” as he GM Dumont said, Harrison carried out the Doncic trade and brought in Davis and Max Christie.
Problem for the Mavs: The chronically injury-prone Big Man Davis has only completed 14 games for Dallas so far. The defense has actually improved (fourth best in the NBA). But now the offense is a problem.
And Doncic? Driven by the discussions about his fitness, he lost a lot of weight in the summer and is in top form. He currently averages 34.6 points, 8.5 rebounds and 9 assists, is the clear leader of the Lakers, who could at least compete for the title in the near future.
The world looks very different in Dallas: the Texans are currently miles away from a championship. A trade candidate is now Davis, who the now fired Harrison absolutely wanted to get for Doncic.
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