NBA Insider Who Spoke to Mavs' Dumont Reportedly Says 'Losing' Led to Nico Firing
Having the NBA's fifth-worst record since trading Luka Dončić was the driving force behind Dallas Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont's decision to fire Nico Harrison as general manager.
Per The Athletic's Joe Vardon, Christian Clark and Sam Amick, one person who spoke to Dumont about Tuesday's move said the Mavs owner specifically cited "losing" as the impetus to dismiss Harrison.
"Can't get off to a start like this (after making a trade like that) and survive," the person added.
This feels like an obvious statement because it couldn't have been the Dončić trade itself since Dumont would have had to sign off on the deal before Harrison was allowed to execute it.
Dumont said in a letter to Mavericks fans published on Tuesday in the wake of Harrison's firing that he understands the "profound impact these difficult last several months have had," but he remains "fully committed" to the success of the franchise.
One person who may have helped Dumont arrive at his decision about Harrison is Mark Cuban, whom The Athletic's report noted has been making a case to the Mavs majority owner about how the club was moving in the wrong direction:
"With the losing, the injuries and the negativity mounting, league sources said Dumont was hearing from the man whose choice to sell the team to him opened the door to this disaster in the first place. Cuban, who still owns 27 percent of the team, was known to be frustrated with Harrison for freezing him out after the sale and not consulting him on the choice to trade Dončic. League sources say he made his case to Dumont over the last several months that Harrison was steering the franchise in the wrong direction."
It was pointed out that Cuban declined to comment on the story when The Athletic contacted him via email.
There were a number of basketball-related reasons for Dumont to fire Harrison, including the recent losing period. Harrison's goal after the trade was to give the Mavs a contention window of "three to four years" with two elite-level talents, but who are also over the age of 30 and frequently injured.
Even though Harrison couldn't have predicted that Kyrie Irving was going to tear his ACL in March, Anthony Davis was already injured at the time he was acquired from the Los Angeles Lakers and was injured again in his first game with Dallas.
Fan unrest remained apparent even into this season, with chants of "Fire Nico" being heard at American Airlines Center during Monday's loss against the Milwaukee Bucks even as Cooper Flagg was in the midst of the best game of his young career.
Dallas' 24-year streak of selling out home games ended on Oct. 29 against the Indiana Pacers. That was followed by an announced attendance of 18,925 for a Nov. 5 game against the New Orleans Pelicans, marking their first game with fewer than 19,000 tickets sold in more than two decades not counting the COVID-19 period.
Ultimately, though, it seems like the thing that doomed Harrison more than anything was the simple fact that the Mavs' 3-8 start this season is ahead of only the Pelicans (2-8) in the Western Conference.
