Latest Rumors on Mark Cuban's Role with Mavs, Plans for Team amid Nico Harrison Firing

The Dallas Mavericks did the inevitable on Tuesday, firing general manager Nico Harrison as toxicity continued to circulate around the team in the aftermath of last season's shocking Luka Dončić trade.

For the time being, assistant general managers Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi will run basketball operations, per ESPN's Tim MacMahon. But former team governor and current minority owner, Mark Cuban, has a plan for replacing Harrison.

According to MacMahon's report, "Cuban, who wrongly anticipated he'd continue to run the team's basketball operations department when he sold the majority share of the franchise to the Adelson and Dumont families in December 2023, has mapped out a plan for the front office's future. According to sources, Cuban hopes to hire Dennis Lindsey, the former Utah vice president and general manager who is currently the second highest-ranking member of the Detroit Pistons' front office. Lindsey served as a senior advisor for the Mavs during the 2023-24 season, when he had input on personnel moves that helped build the Finals roster around Dončić."

MacMahon added that it is unknown if team governor Patrick Dumont will be open to that plan, but the pair "have been in frequent dialogue in recent months, a significant change after Cuban was pushed completely out of basketball operations last season and blindsided by the Dončić deal."

NBA reporter Marc Stein added that Dumont arrived at Monday's game nearly two hours before tipoff, "far earlier than usual," and "sources say he met behind closed doors pregame with both team president Rick Welts and Cuban and duly scheduled meetings for Tuesday to end Harrison's reign and also to meet with players directly to talk about the timing of the change."

Cuban was never shy about his distaste for the Dončić trade.

"If the Mavs are going to trade Luka, that's one thing," he told Dallas' ABC affiliate, WFAA, in March (h/t ESPN). "Just get a better deal. No disrespect to Anthony Davis, but I still firmly believe if we had gotten four unprotected No. 1s and Anthony Davis and Max Christie, this would be a different conversation."

He also said in September that Harrison didn't want him involved in basketball decisions after Cuban sold the team:

"Yeah, I f--ked up," he said during an appearance on the All-In podcast. "When I did the deal, the presumption was that I would still be running basketball operations, and we tried to put it in the contract, but the NBA said the governor is the governor, and they make all final decisions. I was still involved, and then we went on that run to the Finals. Rather than trying to interject myself all the time, I thought, 'I don't want to get in the way. We're rolling.' But that was a mistake. Some things happened internally where the person who traded Luka didn't want me there, and so they won, I lost. That's in the past. I'm still hardcore Mavs."

Mavericks fans continued to make their anger over the Dončić trade known this season, leading to a negative atmosphere around the team. A 3-8 start hasn't helped. It was fairly clear that Harrison's firing had to happen as an olive branch between team ownership and the disgruntled fans.

It wouldn't be surprising if other changes followed Harrison's firing. In Cooper Flagg, the team has a young player to build around for the future, and perhaps the Mavs will try to ride out this season and hope they can stay afloat long enough for Kyrie Irving to return from injury.

If they continue to struggle, however, a more comprehensive rebuild may be on the horizon. Whether Cuban has a significant say in that decision remains to be seen.