As Marc Stein writes for The Stein Line (Substack link), Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont opted to continue backing president of basketball operations and general manager Nico Harrison throughout the offseason and into the 2025/26 season in large part because Dumont was the one who ultimately approved last season’s shocking, widely panned trade sending Luka Doncic to Los Angeles — even if Harrison was the one who instigated that deal.
However, while the vibes in Dallas appeared to be on the rebound after the Mavs lucked into the No. 1 overall pick in May and drafted Cooper Flagg in June, the team is once again on the downswing this fall, having gotten off to a 3-7 start.
According to Stein, as the Mavs try to overcome injuries, a lack of shot creation and play-making, and subpar point-of-attack defense, morale within the organization has “cratered.” The relentless negativity surrounding the team – including at home games, where Dallas has a 2-5 record and fans have repeatedly chanted for Harrison to be fired – has been wearing on ownership.
As Stein details, it still doesn’t seem as if Dumont is eager to make a front office change, but the idea of considering such a move has become “unavoidable” amidst the ugly start to the season.
In the latest episode of The Hoop Collective podcast (YouTube link), ESPN’s Tim MacMahon essentially said the same thing in much stronger terms.
“At this point, I believe it is a matter of when, not if, Nico Harrison will be fired,” MacMahon said. “And there’s a very, very strong likelihood that will be mid-season. … After that Luka trade, Patrick Dumont, one of his infamous quotes was, ‘In Nico we trust.’ I’m just telling you, the trust is disintegrated at this point.”
MacMahon pointed to the recent handling of Anthony Davis‘ left calf strain as an example of how Dumont has become increasingly involved in organizational decisions that would previously have been left up to Harrison and/or other staff members. As MacMahon explains, Davis had hoped to return to action on Saturday in Washington, but was held out after some “internal disagreement” about whether that was a good idea.
“There was a lot of opinions voiced in that,” MacMahon said. “… One of the opinions – I don’t know if it was a veto, I don’t know how heavily this opinion weighed in – but one of the opinions that was involved here was Patrick Dumont’s. Patrick Dumont went from blind faith in Nico to now weighing in on whether a star can come back from injury.”
While MacMahon didn’t say it outright, his implication was that Davis rushed back from an injury last season in an effort to quell the negative PR surrounding Harrison and that Dumont didn’t want to risk having that happen again.
“My understanding is that there were people with the Mavericks’ medical staff that were saying, ‘We cannot rush this guy back,’ that Dumont certainly agreed with that, and that ultimately – I was told – by the end, everybody was on the same page. You know, OK,” MacMahon said with an eye-roll. “Ultimately they decided to hold off at least another couple of days. But the fact that Patrick Dumont is involved in that sort of decision making is a major, major development.”
The ongoing absence of point guard Kyrie Irving, who is recovering from an ACL tear, has been one major reason for the Mavericks’ struggles so far this season. But the front office knew heading into the offseason that Irving would miss a significant chunk of the season, and its major summer addition meant to fill that point guard void – veteran free agent D’Angelo Russell – wasn’t even in the starting lineup to open this season. Instead, Flagg – the NBA’s youngest player – was asked to take on a primary ball-handling role that was new to him.
According to Stein, if Dumont does make an in-season move to replace Harrison, the motivation would be two-fold. In addition to ensuring that the executive responsible for the Doncic trade isn’t the one continuing to make crucial personnel decisions, the goal would also be to recapture some positive vibes and try to win back fans that were alienated by that shocking deal.
stupid to put that all on Harrison. Dumont could have put the brakes on it… and is it Harrison’s fault that Ky tore his ACL too?
watching kidd’s offensive plan you got to wonder if going with a better coach could jump start the team? Should have let him go to the knicks.
It’s actually typical for a billionaire owner that ISN’T a huge basketball fan (like Cuban and Ballmer are) to blame the guy who made one of the worst trades ever for the results.
Sure, it’s partly his fault for trusting Nico’s opinion, but it’s not like Kyrie would have helped that much.
As far as we know trading Luka was his big idea. That was the beginning of the end for Mavs, so he should get all the blame and should hang his head in shame while leaving town.
beginning of the end? the Mavs are loaded with talent.
so shaqfoo what would you do to improve the Mavs?
@ShaqFoo
Not really – as their tied for the worst record in the west indicates.
Hire Cuban as GM?
Good, F this clown. Should fire him, rehire him and then fire him again.
Can you imagine how Nuggets fans would react if their GM traded Jokic and then basically said “off the record” 50 different times it was because he was fat and a bad defender? Harrison has no business being in this business. AD is great, when healthy, which other than Zion, is the least frequent situation for any player in the league. And the whole 7 years older part…was one of the worst trades of all time the second it was made, and it will only get worse with time. Took Luka one offseason to get in better shape and now he’s the face of the Lakers for the next 10 years. If they manage LeBron’s body, which it already looks like they are going to, that team can take out anybody in a series. Dallas won’t be competitive while Kyrie and AD are still elite, and then will suck for years when it’s just Flagg, who will probably want to leave by then too.
Even if you believe that Luka wouldn’t have gotten in shape without the trade, getting just 1 FRP and max christie was a way too little return.
The trade was so absurdly stupid that I think Dumont and Nico should both be fired.
Not defending the trade, but let’s wait till the Lakers win something.
If your team runs on ‘good vibes’ then you need more than just a better GM.