Nico Harrison’s Luka Doncic shocking misunderstanding is an unfortunate embarrassment
DALLAS — During an end-of-season press conference on Monday, general manager Nico Harrison admitted that he did not realize how important Luka Doncic was to the Dallas Mavericks fanbase before trading him to the Los Angeles Lakers. If that seems absurd, well, that’s because it is. One has to wonder how the general manager of a team did not realize how much the star player meant to the team’s fans.
“I did know that Luka was important to the fanbase, I didn’t quite know it to what level,” Harrison told reporters Monday. “But really, the way we looked at it is if you’re putting the team on the floor that is Kyrie (Irving), Klay (Thompson), PJ (Washington), Anthony Davis and (Dereck) Lively (II), we feel that’s a championship-caliber team and we would’ve been winning at a high level and that would have quieted some of the outrage. Unfortunately we weren’t able to do that, so it just continued to go on and on.”
Nico Harrison’s shocking Luka Doncic admission
Look, making the trade was shocking enough. Choosing not to address all of the local media in Dallas until over two months after the trade was another questionable decision. However, not realizing how much Luka Doncic meant to Mavericks fans is inexcusable. That’s just the fact.
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There are fans who don’t live in Dallas who realize how much Doncic meant to the city. If you asked a basketball fan in Rhode Island about it, they would tell you that Doncic meant everything to Dallas. For Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison to not “quite know” Doncic’s true value to the fanbase is an unfortunate embarrassment.
The Mavs were well-respected heading into the 2023-24 season. Dallas was fresh off an NBA Finals appearance, Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving were set to lead the team and Klay Thompson joined the Mavericks during the offseason.
Fast-forward to Monday, April 21, and the Mavericks’ headlines are clouded in negativity. Harrison clearly didn’t believe Doncic could lead the Mavs to a championship victory — which was surprising without question — but his comments on Monday only made things worse.
