Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison doubled down on his mantra of "defense wins championships" as an explanation for trading Luka Doncic in a shocking blockbuster deal that has outraged the Dallas fan base and prompted frequent chants calling for Harrison's firing at home games.
Harrison, along with new Mavs CEO Rick Welts, held an hourlong session Tuesday morning with a select group of Dallas-based media in which the trade of Doncic, 26, for a package headlined by 32-year-old perennial All-Star power forward Anthony Davis dominated the discussion.
"There's no regrets on the trade," said Harrison, whose only other media availability since the trade was a brief pregame session the following day in Cleveland. "Part of my job is to do the best thing for the Mavericks, not only today, but also in the future, and some of the decisions I'm going to make are going to be unpopular. That's my job, and I have to stand by it."
Harrison made the deal only months after Doncic led Dallas to the NBA Finals following a series of trades to construct a contender around the franchise player. Harrison referred to those deals — including trades for Kyrie Irving, Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington — when asked about Dallas fans' widespread desire for him to be fired.
"Well, the beauty of Dallas is it is a passionate fan base," Harrison said. "For us to reach our goals, we need that fan base. And to be honest with you, every trade I've made since I've been here has not been regarded as a good trade, and so sometimes it takes time. When I traded for Kyrie, it was met with a lot of skepticism and it was graded as a terrible trade and you didn't see it right away, but eventually everyone agreed that that was a great trade. When I traded for [Gafford] and [Washington], again, it was like, 'Oh, he gave up way too much. These guys aren't going to help us.' Now that trade, you saw the evidence a lot sooner. So I think a lot of times trades take a little bit of time.
"But our philosophy, like I said, going forward is defense wins championships and we're built on defense. And this trade cements us for that."
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/44685264/mavs-gm-nico-harrison-no-regrets-luka-doncic-trade
33 comments
Fire him and sell the team
Lmfao what was the purpose of this press confrence ?
Why the fuck did they have to have a top secret press conference with no cameras to say this same dumb shit again?
The fact that they they feel the need to keep doubling down on the most idiotic trade in sports history is infuriating. Nico will NEVER be accepted by this fanbase no matter what happens going forward. Just fire him into the sun already and move on.
Genuinely flabbergasted they thought an emergency press conference was warranted to double down on this historically terrible move before a play in game lol. Reinforces most fans financial boycott of this organization
No regrets? BS.
You destroyed the team Nico.
unfuckingbelievable
Oh, that explains everything! Thanks for reminding me why I hate you.
They beat two defensive oriented contenders last year. Why do they talk like losing to a loaded Boston team meant the Mavs had no hope of a championship. As if the Kyrie/AD Mavs would have won that series, please.
Coward! All he had to say was “we made the decision to trade based on blah blah blah and did not expect this much backlash from the fans and in retrospect it’s a trade that we would not have made. We clearly underestimated the love that the fans had for Doncic and regardless of basketball reasons, it was a wrong move and we will do everything in our power to fix the relationship with fans”
But clearly Nico has no ownership of the wrong he has done and is doubling down on his move in a cowardly never seen before “press conference”. And in doing so further isolating them from much aggravated fans.
Then why isn’t he in normal seat, instead he is cowering away in his cuck tunnel
Lmao! Nico lowkey gonna make luka average f’n 40ppg this playoffs if he keeps talking shit to luka
Fuck Nico.
There has to be some hard questions asked towards Nico, is this it?? Same stuff except he is just doubling down on this move. Holy fuck what a train wreck. Honestly the best thing to do is just fire him but that’s the easy way out for Nico which is just so toxic for the fanbase and team
Fuck this dude
He knows we won’t have anymore home games so he’s getting his shit off
I say this with as much respect as I can..
Fuck Nico, fuck Rick Welts, fuck this leadership group, and fuck anyone trying to defend these morons.
I hope they all step on Legos this morning and because I’m petty, I hope the Lakers win it all.
Future is bright! How many years are they without a draft pick?
Bro getting paid handsomely to build a championship team… for the Lakers
No regrets because it won’t be his problem soon
I’m so happy to see all of the fans revolt after the trade. We will cost the owners hundreds of millions of dollars by not supporting this team. Let’s force these owners out of Dallas, together we can make a difference and show we won’t support this team as long as they own it. Plus they’ve now added a couple million “anti-gambling voters” from their idiotic trade.
Absolutely fuck him in the ass.
Fucking idiot.
“Once everyone is at full strength” is equivalent to me saying I’m going on a date with Dua Lipa once she reads my DMs
Aka not happening
We may not win a championship any time soon, but best believe we’re throwing a parade the day this mf is gone.
Before injuries, we’re a championship team.
In my imagination, I’m a billionaire.
>private roundtable discussion
Had me until that. Basically Nico in a private “meeting” with people hand picked by him because he’s too scared to face the media that will ask the real hard questions. F off Nico. Either shut up or face the real music!
Stop listening to this clown and his bs excuses. None of this trade was done with Mavs best interest in mind. You are not fooling anyone with that “culture” excuse.
You know what just sucks? When a company does stupid shit, they have to answer to customers or shareholders depending on if it’s private or public. If it’s public then the customers are the shareholders, and if they make enough of a stink then the c suite hears it and could be ousted.
There’s nothing we can do here. It’s pointless and insane. It feels so fucking depressing.
Nico doubling down with the backing of the FO… Ownership truly didn’t want to pay. I bet he got a nice bonus and signed that NDA to basically take the heat and never tell the true story of the decision to trade.
Anyway, it was a good interview before the playoffs. Just adds fuel to the fire when Luka sees this shit. Hopefully, Luka will win because there’s just no way Nico won’t resign then.
My 8 year old (who I took to game 6 vs OKC last year and was a massive mavs/Luka fan) already picked out a lakers hat when shopping with my wife the other day. This cannot be undone, they have seriously destroyed the franchise and fanbase and they still dont get it.
If you’re not going to say something, why say anything?! Fuck I hate these idiots.
What a punk this guy Nico is. POS just keeps asking for it.
I know now for a fact that Luka side-hastled Nico a full-court off the jumbotron and made it – for 50 pushups. Nico could not forgive Luka for that and traded him away.
Fire Nico, sell the team
