The Mavericks are expected to move on from embattled president of basketball operations and general manager Nico Harrison, according to Marc Stein of The Stein Line, who reports (via Twitter) that Harrison’s dismissal is viewed as “imminent.”
ESPN’s Shams Charania and Tim MacMahon (Twitter link) confirm Stein’s reporting, stating that Harrison is expected to be let go at a 10:00 am Central time meeting on Tuesday.
MacMahon said on Monday that he believed it was a matter of “when, not if” Harrison will be fired, indicating that governor Patrick Dumont‘s trust in the Mavs’ top basketball executive has “disintegrated.” Christian Clark of The Athletic echoed that reporting this morning, writing that Harrison’s exit was considered inevitable.
A former Nike executive, Harrison had a significant hand in constructing a Mavericks roster that advanced to the NBA Finals in 2024, making key deals for P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford during that season. However, he has made a handful of missteps since then, most notably sending Luka Doncic to the Lakers last February in a shocking trade that incited a revolt among fans in Dallas.
While the Doncic blockbuster has overshadowed the rest of the Mavs’ recent moves, Harrison has made other questionable roster decisions within the past year, including another 2025 deadline deal that sent Quentin Grimes to Philadelphia for Caleb Martin. That trade moved the Mavs so close to their hard cap that they were unable to add any reinforcements – even on 10-day contracts – when their roster was decimated by injuries during the second half.
After missing the playoffs in the spring, the Mavericks were thrown a lifeline with a long-shot draft lottery win — they claimed the No. 1 overall pick despite having just a 1.8% chance and used that selection to draft top prospect Cooper Flagg. However, while Flagg figures to be the long-term franchise player in Dallas, his arrival hasn’t helped turn things around in the short term.
The Mavs are off to a 3-8 start this season, with a 2-6 record at home, where fans have frequently regaled the team with “Fire Nico” chants. As MacMahon writes for ESPN, that chant bubbled up several times during Monday’s loss to the Bucks, which was the first game Dumont had attended since the regular season opener.
While Dumont ultimately signed off on the Doncic trade last season, a fan who had a courtside conversation with the Mavericks’ majority owner at Monday’s game told Clark that Dumont said he “feels horrible” about the deal.
Injuries have played a part in the Mavs’ struggles since February’s trade deadline. Anthony Davis, the centerpiece of the return in the Doncic deal, appeared in just nine games for Dallas last season and has missed six of 11 contests so far this season due to a calf strain. Point guard Kyrie Irving, who became more important than ever without Doncic on the roster, sustained an ACL tear in early March and has been out since then.
Still, the Mavs knew entering the offseason that they wouldn’t have Irving available for a significant chunk of the season and Harrison’s most significant move to address that hole – signing free agent D’Angelo Russell – hasn’t worked out so far. Russell has started just three of 11 games this fall and hasn’t played up to his usual standards, making just 37.3% of his field goal attempts, including 27.8% of his three-point tries.
With Harrison on the way out, there has been a “push” from some members of the organization to try to bring back veteran executive Dennis Lindsey, according to Stein (Twitter link). A former advisor to Harrison in Dallas, Lindsey was hired in 2024 by the Pistons as their senior VP of basketball operations.
Chris Mannix of SI.com (Twitter link), meanwhile, suggests there has been some chatter around the NBA about the possibility of head coach Jason Kidd moving into a front office role.
For now though, the Mavs figure to install an interim replacement for Harrison, per Stein and Mannix. Assistant general managers Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi are among the top candidates to take on increased roles, Mannix adds (via Twitter).
It remains to be seen what sort of vision a new head of basketball operations will have for the Mavs going forward — rebuilding around Flagg is a possibility, but not necessarily an inevitability. For what it’s worth, Stein reports (via Twitter) that Davis’ agent Rich Paul has established a strong relationship with Dumont and that the two parties communicate regularly.
When you trade your franchise player for pennies on the dollar without getting any real pick compensation, you get a short leash.
Side note this is a story for all GM’s to follow (I’m looking at you Jon Horst in Milwaukee).
All mavs fans saying about time…
Arc, is there ever a right time to trade your franchise player who already had a max deal? lol
What made that trade even worse is not letting other teams offer a bigger package for him. You don’t trade your best player without getting the biggest and highest price for them. Everyone knows AD is injury prone so why would you trade for him? Its Like Zion Williams yes he could help any team to a playoff spot but he is so injury prone his value is not high.
They would have made out like bandits if they actually held a bidding war, problem is that if they did that, PR in Dallas would be tougher than November 22 1963.
arc hit the nail on the head. Only negotiating with the Lakers and not even allowing other teams to know that Luka is available is not only incredibly stupid but it is (in the big picture for the league) very suspicious, especially when the Mavs defied odds and got Cooper Flagg.
that #1 pick falling to Mavs when they had almost no chance to get it showed teh NBA rigs the draft
Only getting 1 FRP and Max Christie was either insane or corrupt.
It’s crazy because until this firing I was convinced there’s no way a man was this stupid. That it had to be at the behest of ownership. But if that was the case firing him now doesn’t really add up. They’re staring down a season of anger and he was taking all the hits. Will Dallas fans realize they should be angry at their owners and perhaps even Cuban for everything playing out like this?
Mavs fans should understand that the owners are scapegoating Nico in hopes of quieting the well deserved uproar.
It’s not like the fans can do anything to remove Dumont…
Cuban selling the team to people that only care about money and not a championship is the only thing i see Cuban doing wrong. He sold to nepto out of state rich elites. They never care about winning just making more money.
They care about money. And paying a player 300 million is not good use of that money, if you can’t convince that player to get into the kind of shape he needs to be to lead your team to a championship.
I don’t understand how the media and fans ignore the fact that Luka refused to conduct himself like a championship caliber superstar.
How do you push your team to put in all the work they need to just to have a chance to win a championship when the leader of the team is laying around looking like a fat rec leaguer.
Jokic is not in the best shape of a NBA player but still is one of teh top 3 players in the league. Using teh Luka not in shape excuse doesn’t hold up when he isthe best player on your team and at a young age.
Please.
You don’t become a top 5 player in the league “laying around looking like a fat rec leaguer”.
Luka produced 28.2 ppg/8.2 rpg/7.7 apg with 2 spg before the trade. A smart GM keeps working with the player to get him to understand he needs to be in top shape without resorting to a trade.
Cuban sold majority, but was told he would remain governor. An owner of any company can’t sell his business?
Dumont relied on Nico. The problem I have with Dumont is the chit he talked about Doncic on the way out. Yes, obviously, it was the worst trade in NBA history, but the dude obviously doesn’t know basketball. But his chit talking is unforgivable.
This just feels long overdue. Nico was just so bad at his job.
Holding a closed negotiation with the Lakers, to the exclusion of 28 other teams, is just bad business. Nico decimated any leverage he could have had by his own actions. The trade wouldn’t have been nearly as bad if Dallas got several first round picks, a couple up and coming players, and a salary match. Could have happened easily with open negotiations
It seems like it’s way too late to fire him now. They should’ve fired that idiot when he pulled the trigger on the Luka deal. He single-handedly set that franchise back at least 5-10 years now.
Now, with the way they’ve started this season, they’re likely going to have to trade off their other pieces to recoup some picks and/or some players on expired deals to open up cap space around Flagg, AD (which is a toss up because he’s always hurt) and Kyrie (whenever he comes back from ACL injury this season)
“They should’ve fired that idiot when he pulled the trigger on the Luka deal”
I feel like any competent owner would have fired him for even proposing it. Ownership had to sign off on it. If you are the owner and the GM brings you this trade and you aren’t even getting Reaves or extra picks or anything, and then he tells you it’s because he exclusively negotiated with one team, you have to A) reject the trade, and B) fire the GM on the spot.
Absolutely. And he had minority owner Cuban to use as a resource to vet the trade, and failed to do so.
People have said this might have been a plan to tank the team’s value to help the owners move the team to las Vegas – is that move still a possibility?
The answer is C. Laugh, reject the trade and fire the GM!!!
Adam Silver rigged a trade that destroyed this mans career – zero chance Nico approached the Lakers about a trade that would land #1 pick
That is just not true and really feel bad for you if you actually believe this.
Silly conspiracy theory
1. Silver’s whole stewardship has revolved around parity in the NBA, and against super teams.
2. That kind of stuff comes out eventually, and Silver has no incentive personally to risk his neck for that.
3. If that was the case Nico would be singing. Why should he take the heat on it if it wasn’t his doing?
I never believed in NBA conspiracy theories until Nico Harrison. But no one is THAT dumb, and obstinate, and shortsighted. And then they get Flagg? Come on. Suddenly everything Tim Donaghy said made sense.
So yeah. This guy is an important part of NBA history for a lot of us.
So either he really is the brains behind the Doncic deal, the new owners took complete advantage of this useful idiot or he got paid handsomely. Either way I think Cuban sold out your city to Vegas and Nico was taking all the strays. Nothing about this adds up. Now maybe Dallas fans will turn on the new owners like they should’ve from day 1.
Billionaire Dumont isn’t obsessed with basketball like Cuban and Ballmer are – he trusted Nico and now is scapegoating him.
Typical billionaire BS.
The only real question remaining is was Nico really this stupid, or was he acting as a double agent for the Lakers?
If you don’t know anything about basketball, how is trusting the guy who you pay millions per year to know about basketball, typical billionaire BS? You’d rather have Dumont making the decisions with no input?
Really hard to have such a bad take that the billionaires are being defended. Kudos to you.
The BS is his immediately firing Nico after a 3-8 start with Kyrie out for likely the entire season and AD missing half the games so far – so much for trusting him.
If I was Dumont, I’d have checked with fellow billionaire and still part owner of the Mavs Mark Cuban before signing off on one of the worst trades in NBA history!
This is just dumb in every way possible
Hysterical. All of this is so freaking hysterical… except all the rest of the main characters are still awful and still in place. But funny for Nico. LOL Good times.
Vlade Divac, Travis Schlenck, Nico Harrison, maybe Donnie Nelson…?
Luka is a PBO/GM assassin
I think the owners, trusting in Nico, approved the trade. Nico probably laid out all sorts of numbers and stats and convinced ownership it would work. They trusted him but the start of this season and other factors over the past few months, they completely lost faith.
The only blame I have for ownership is that they blindly let Nico make those decisions. Ownership doesn’t have a basketball mindset or IQ, and trusted Nico.
They realize now, they were wrong and got fleeced.
The losers in all of this are the non-Lakers fans, Mavericks fans chief among them. Lakers get bailed out of their Lebron/AD core and get gifted a generational franchise talent. Lakers are the luckiest franchise in sports history. Gifted Luka, Lebron chooses them, got Kobe for Vlade Divac, got Shaq as an unrestricted free agent (in a non-bird rights era with no opportunity for Orlando to match), gifted the pick for Magic Johnson, gifted the pick for James Worthy, got Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for less than his value, same with Wilt, etc. Just unreal sports luck.
This trade was rigged by the NBA and agent Paul! The NBA has always rigged things geared towards the Lakers! There is no way that Dallas would receive the number one pick unless it was rigged! There is no way a competent GM wanting to trade a top 5 young player and not shop him around. This whole thing is rigged!
Anyone who believes that the Dončić trade was all Harrison’s idea, probably also inquired about the opportunity of a lifetime to buy that beautiful piece of ocean front property in Phoenix, AZ.
The NBA needed a new young superstar for their Hollywood big market darling. One who, on top of it all, could possibly provide old man LeBron with another championship.
The Mavs employed said young superstar and also recently had switched ownership from a wanna-be GM over to the clueless proprietors of a Vegas gambling outfit, who couldn’t care less about the sport of basketball outside of its generated profits.
The rest is easy to comprehend.
A corrupt franchise basketball league concluded a clandestine deal with Mavs ownership in order to gift Hollywood Basketball its long-desired new young superstar and in exchange guaranteed to send the coveted 2025 No. 1 draft pick to Dallas through their rigged draft “lottery” behind closed doors.
Poof… both sides are as happy as a duck in orange sauce. Hollywood Basketball got its new messiah and the Vegas gambling outfit gets to pocket the hundreds of millions in projected salaries of the departed superstar. The gullible fans will be fleeced and strung along with the glamour of the incoming, comparatively cheap star rookie and promises of a bright future. Money in the bank.
Should things not go to plan, there’s always a sacrificial lamb waiting to be blamed and fired while the Vegs outfit re-emerges as clean as a whistle. Or so the Dumont clan thought.
Add the recent sale of Hollywood Basketball, where that new young superstar and its accompanying promises of a bright and profitable future might have added a couple of bucks to the final price tag.
Rumor has it that an overjoyed Jeanie Buss intentionally lost a handsome sum of cash, garnished with a thank-you note, on a recent trip to Vegas in one of the Dumont’s joints.
Aside from the mind-numbing stupidity that was the Luka trade, this guy was just bad at his job. It’s almost as if hiring a shoe salesman to be the GM of an NBA team was a horrible idea…
I can’t believe he held onto his job this long.
Nico traded Luka because he wanted to be the star that brought a championship to the Mavs. He wanted to be seen as the genius who made the tough decisions.
Nico seems to be on the spectrum. If you watch his interviews, he behaves like he is. Not saying this as an insult, but it can help explain his comment that he realized that the fans liked Luka, but was surprised how much they loved him.
I swear I’m not picking an internet fight. But this comment is hysterical given your passionate argument against a conspiracy.
If I get your position: a conspiracy is outlandish, but there’s enough oddity here that your take is Nico Harrison has a mental disability?
I mean. Okay, that would actually explain a lot, and maybe you’re right. But I’m a guy with lots of autism in his family, but it sure seems like you aren’t getting a MORE likely explanation for all this to say the guy has that instead of a league worth billions is protecting its financial interests in shady ways.
Either way: we can all agree this was crazy.
Autism isn’t a mental disability. If you really feel that way please understand your family members know or sense it and it makes them feel bad for simply existing. Not trying to be a dick but this is based on a book written by 30 different autistic kids who were grown up. They all said something along these lines.
What’s the crowd gonna chant during blowouts now tho?