Nico Harrison Reveals He Didn't Know How Important Luka Doncic Was to Mavs Fans

Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison admitted on Monday that he underestimated the love for Luka Dončić among the team's fans before trading him to the Los Angeles Lakers, a quote that could hang over him for years to come.

"I did know that Luka was important to the fanbase. I didn't quite know to what level," he told reporters. "Really, the way we looked at it was if you're putting a team on the floor that's Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington, Anthony Davis and Derrick Lively, 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."

Why would anybody assume that a five-time first-team All-NBA selection, firmly in his prime at just 26 years old, would be so beloved by fans?

Who could see it coming that Dallas supporters might be shocked to learn that the man who led the Mavs to the NBA Finals just last season suddenly wasn't seen as a viable option to lead them back?

Who might imagine that fans would be in an uproar after the player who had become the spiritual successor to Dirk Nowitzki—and one who has averaged 28.6 points per game in his career and delighted NBA enthusiasts with his array of trick shots that occasionally make their way into actual games—was suddenly discarded without the Mavericks even making the negotiations open to teams other than the Lakers, limiting their return in the process?

The Mavericks have gotten this Dončić situation entirely wrong.

They seem detached from the fans (and almost indifferent to them, given how the trade went down); they got what most people believed was a shockingly poor return from the Lakers in a 32-year-old Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a first-round draft pick; they leaked negative reports on Dončić in the aftermath; they've alienated popular figures like Nowitzki and Mark Cuban; and for the cherry on top, they didn't even advance past the Play-In Tournament this season (though Irving's torn ACL certainly didn't help).

By basically every account, outside of the one Harrison is trying to positively spin, the decision to trade Dončić has been a disaster. If the Davis-Irving duo ends up winning a title in Dallas, perhaps Harrison will be vindicated. But even then, Dončić will be playing elite basketball—potentially title-winning basketball—for years to come, and he'll be doing it elsewhere.