Unless the Dallas Mavericks started the 2025-26 NBA season looking like a legitimate juggernaut, it was always possible that Nico Harrison would have a short leash. Trading away one of the best players in franchise history, that too in a shady overnight deal that virtually no one knew about, can have that kind of an impact on a career.
Unfortunately for the former general manager, that is exactly how things turned out this year. But what led to his downfall, from having the power to trade Luka Dončić to being fired less than a full calendar year later, here is the story behind Harrison.
Nico Harrison Ruins the Dallas Mavericks
Starting his career as a regional field operative for Nike out of Dallas, he gradually built his career while representing legends of the game, including Dirk Nowitzki and Tim Duncan. Eventually, his success landed him a national marketing role, where he worked alongside Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
With 19 years of service at the company, he established a reputation for his trustworthiness and ability to build strong connections with players. There were exceptions, of course, such as the botched interview with Stephen Curry, which led to the two-time MVP signing with Under Armour instead; however, his overall resume was undeniably excellent.
Eventually, that landed him the role of general manager and president of basketball operations for the Mavericks in 2021, succeeding the legendary Donnie Nelson, and bringing in Jason Kidd as the new head coach for the organization.
From there, his work was hard to deny, as he led the team to two Conference Finals and an NBA Finals appearance, as Dončić became the centerpiece of the franchise as a whole. Then, everything changed in February of 2025.
With the Slovenian superstar dealing with a calf injury since Christmas, Harrison orchestrated a trade to send him to the Los Angeles Lakers. While a bizarre move on its face, it was made markedly worse by the circumstances surrounding the decision.
Rather than hosting a wide-open sale to bring in the best offer possible for one of the handful of best players in the sport, the deal was done in a shady way with Rob Pelinka, who had been a longtime friend of Harrison.
Additionally, the return was underwhelming, to say the least, as Dallas got an injury-prone Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and just one first-round pick in 2029, while giving up an in-his-prime Dončić, Maxi Kleber, and Markieff Morris.
The move instantly fractured the relationship between Harrison and the Mavericks fan base, as posters and chants of “Fire Nico” became commonplace throughout the American Airlines Arena.
However, it went beyond just chants at home games for the Dallas team. Instead, their vitriol even extended to other sporting events, a St. Patrick’s Day celebration, and various billboards and murals across the city.
Harrison, on the other hand, tried to preach patience and claimed that the trade was a win-now move to get his team better defensively, citing the age-old “Defense wins championships” adage.
However, the fan base wasn’t buying it, and subsequent injuries to Kyrie Irving, Dereck Lively II, and Daniel Gafford, as Harrison tried to run them into the ground without Dončić, exacerbated the team’s situation.
After he desperately tried and failed to get his team into the playoffs, he tried to sell the Mavericks tripping upwards into the first overall pick as a stroke of genius on his end, when he’d done everything in his power to avoid such a situation.
Even with a generational prospect like Cooper Flagg on the roster, the fans’ adverse reactions did not die down. With the team flailing at 3-8, the decision was finally made. After publicly confessing to a fan courtside, team owner Patrick Dumont made the decision official.
Claiming that “this decision was critical to moving our franchise forward in a positive direction,” he chose to relieve Harrison from his duties, ushering in a new era for the Mavericks.