Mavs fire GM Nick Harrison 9 months after Luka Doncic changed franchise

The Dallas Mavericks fired CEO Nick Harrison on Tuesday, acknowledging nine months later that the widely criticized trade Luka Dončić returned to the franchise.

The move came a day after Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont attended a 116-114 loss to Milwaukee in which fans again chanted “fire Nico,” a familiar refrain since the blockbuster deal that brought him Anthony Davis from Los Angeles Lakers and angered the Dallas fan base.

According to Dallas Morning NewsDumont spoke to teenage fan Nicholas Dickson during the game and said the deal was a mistake. Dickson was then briefly interviewed by the news, where he said, “(Dumont) said he’s trying to do what’s best for the organization and ‘Sometimes you have good intentions and you make mistakes.’ We all do it.”

The Mavericks have named Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi as interim general managers to oversee basketball operations.

Dumont’s hope for goodwill with fans never came after Dallas won the No. 1 in the overall selection Cooper Flagg with only a 1.8% chance of winning the draft lottery.

There have been plenty of empty seats in the upper deck of the American Airlines Center this season, something that hasn’t been seen consistently since 2018, when the Mavericks traded up to get Doncic with the third overall pick.

Doncic was a 25-year-old generational point guard in his prime when Harrison moved him out for the oft-injured Davis, who had missed 30 of 44 regular-season games since his arrival in February.

Harrison was in his fourth season and engineered three trades that helped the Mavs reach the 2022 Western Conference Finals. NBA The final two years later.

The change of Doncic and a slow start to the first full season without the young star led to a stunning decline. Dallas is 3-8 and Davis has missed six of 11 games with a calf injury. In the first seven games of the season for the Lakers, Doncic averaged 37.1 points, 9.4 rebounds and 9.1 assists per game.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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