Nico Harrison once placed Jrue Holiday in the ‘same trading tier’ as Nikola Jokic

Nico Harrison is finally out of Dallas. Since then the infamous Luka Doncic trade, Nico Harrison’s job with Dallas Mavericks hung by a thread. The trade, along with Harrison’s attitude throughout the saga, frustrated many fans. Now, after the Mavericks started the 2025-26 season 3-8, Harrison was fired.

Harrison’s reputation as a general manager took a big hit after the Doncic trade. The Mavericks in particular questioned his talent evaluation. Harrison remained adamant that the trade was in Dallas’ favor, despite the glaring flaws in the deal. As it turns out, this trade misjudgment was not a one-off.

“Some trades were surprisingly expensive to recover; others that would have been likely mistakes, like how Harrison tried to trade two first-rounders for Kyle Kuzma, went unpunished despite Harrison’s best efforts,” Tim Cato reports. “One team source recalls a document in which Harrison placed Jrue Holiday in the same trading tier as Nikola Jokic.”

The report goes on to mention that Harrison was unusually difficult to reach until assistant general manager Matt Riccardi took over some of that responsibility. Additionally, despite being part of the talent evaluation team at Nike (his former job), there were questions about the former Mavericks GM’s ability to build a cohesive team.

To give credit where it’s due, Harrison has made some good moves during his tenure. Trading for PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford gave the Mavericks life in the 2023-24 season, helping them reach the NBA Finals. However, it’s also worth pointing out that it has since been revealed that Kuzma was also one of his top targets.

Trading Doncic at the 2024-25 deadline to the Los Angeles Lakers was seen by most people as a grave mistake. For one thing, Dallas was essentially just trading a top-five player in the league. It will almost always be considered a mistake. The Mavericks also received an aging and oft-injured Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a first-round pick for their superstar, which is unheard of for a player of Doncic’s caliber.

Harrison has since rationalized the trade in many different ways, including attacking Doncic’s conditioning and his defense. Since then, however, the Mavericks have struggled mightily. The Mavs front office decided to stop delaying the inevitable and fired the man behind perhaps the worst trade in NBA history.