Autopsy of Mavs Nico Harrison

It’s over. The Mavericks therefore put an end to the torture that has become their home games by letting go of their GM, Nico Harrisonwho has become the person to kill in Texas since he decided to send Luka Dončić to the Lakers, last February, against a Anthony Davis who has barely seen the field since…

It’s almost a textbook case, a “perfect storm” against Patrick Dumont and his CEO. Sure, we’ve seen fans bemoan transfers before, but to see the “fanbase” completely turn against their sporting boss is simply unprecedented. This is obviously related to the status of Luka Doncic, the improbability of the trade, and then the result that came from it, the injury of Kyrie Irving, the elimination in the game and the disastrous start of the season, despite the first pick in the draft.

But it also has to do with the fact that in the closed league that is the NBA, franchise leaders can only sell their fans two things: a title or hope. And while the Mavericks were finalists in 2024 by building their team around Luka Doncic, the latter’s departure seemed to completely threaten both!

The clan has been fighting for a long time

We will no doubt continue to debate for many years the reasons that could have driven Nick Harrison to attempt this crazy and completely failed bet. Inventor of ESPN’s Real Plus Minus, advanced stats specialist and former Mavericks employee between 2019 and 2022. Jeremias Engelmann published a few days ago an interesting insight into the dynamics within the franchise, perhaps too often forgotten.

Because it must be remembered that the Mavs have had (known) interior problems for a long time. Mark Cuban although he was involved on a daily basis and answered everyone’s emails, he didn’t “not aware” that its longtime president, Terdema Useri, created a work environment harmful to women in the club. And the owner had to pay of 10 million dollars after the NBA investigation.

The conclusions of the investigation come in 2018, when Dallas recovered Luka Doncic. This is an opportunity to start again on a healthy basis, only now the two camps will oppose each other within the club. That from Donnie Nelsonhistorical GM close to the Slovenian camp, and that of Charalabos Voulgaris, specialist in advanced statistics.

The war is not open, at least at first, but the two sides do not trust each other. In the end, Mark Cuban parted ways with Donnie Nelson, and then with Haralabos Voulgaris, who now runs a soccer team in Spain. Four years ago, after his departure, he had these rather foreboding words.

The Great Cleansing… and the Echo Chamber

“I didn’t have any working relationship with other people in the front office, so much so that it was really weird. But that’s how it worked there: surround yourself with people who aren’t threats. You don’t become an NBA GM who stays on the job that long if you’re not very, very good at keeping the job.”

Because according to Jeremias Engelman, a member of Dallas’ “Voulgaris Clan” who left the franchise in 2022, that’s exactly what Nico Harrison did when he arrived in 2021.

Little by little, he left Luka Doncic’s supporters aside by hiring employees who would be loyal to him. Employees are obviously not always qualified for the position, e.g a physical trainer without the necessary degreesand the director of communications who worked on terrorism in the FBI…

It’s a complete internal takeover, sidelining Mark Cuban during the club’s sale, while the former owner thought he would keep the team’s sporting direction, which would be the final touch.

Former Nike manager Nico Harrison also reinstated players he worked with for a long time (Kierie Irving, Anthony Davis, etc.) to their former positions. Did he take advantage of the naivety of Patrick Dumont, who knew nothing about running a sports franchise, to take control of the club? Did the two men act together? In any case, Jeremias Engelmann explains that already in 2022 he warned Nick Harrison to surround himself with bad people, rather to focus on loyalty rather than competence.

Enough to potentially create an echo chamber, with no real opposition, which may have confirmed to the manager that he had no choice but to offload Luka Doncic, the final step in his takeover of the club. That’s the problem the new king of dallas was nakedand he no longer had anyone to tell him.