Who Mark Cuban wants to replace Nick Harrison

Hades Mark Cuban remained in charge of Dallas Mavericks as the majority owner, There would be no Luka Dončić trade. Unfortunately, Cuban lost control of the team’s basketball operations when he turned over majority ownership of the team to Patrick Dumont. Dumont then gave the green light to Nick Harrison’s decision to trade Doncic to the Lakers. More than nine months since that disastrous trade was made, Harrison is no longer the general manager of the Mavericks — to the delight of the fans.

Harrison deserves a lot of credit for being one of the loudest voices in the front office as they built an NBA Finals-caliber team around Doncic during the 2023-24 season. But there’s simply no recovery from trading a 26-year-old superstar in the middle of his prime for someone with an even bigger injury history.

Cuban though still has some input about the Mavericks’ decision-making, and according to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, he already has a succession plan in place after Harrison’s firing. According to MacMahon, Cuban “hopes to hire Dennis Lindsey, the former Utah Jazz vice president and general manager who is the second-ranking member of the Detroit Pistons’ front office.”

Lindsey was the Jazz’s general manager for seven years before becoming executive vice president for two years. He then moved to an advisory role in 2021 at the behest of owner Ryan Smith. In 2024, Lindsey was hired by the then struggling Detroit Pistons to serve as their Senior Vice President of Basketball Operations.

The veteran executive has a long history of improving his teams. He was the architect of a Jazz roster that became a consistent playoff team in the late 2010s. And now he’s clearly played a big role in the Pistons’ turnaround of fortunes.

It can do the same for the Mavericks?

Will the Mavericks seek a hard reset?

Harrison did make a lot of mistakes to end his tenure with the Mavericks, but his vision for the roster was clear. He wanted to build a defensive-minded team that would physically overwhelm the opponent. But all he did was create an injury-prone squad and an unbalanced roster.

The next general manager needs to be cleaned up, and it’s not entirely clear if Lindsey will be up to the daunting task given how well he’s doing in the Motor City.