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After one of the most compelling sports events in recent memory, Nico Harrison the former General Manager of the Dallas Mavericks has been fired.

Well, the Dallas Mavericks will spend a lot of time making tough decisions due to the trade that sent their star player, Luka Doncic, to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis. Less than nine months later, the fan base in Dallas was too much, and thus ownership decided to pull the plug on Nico Harrison being with the organization any further. Harrison essentially set the future of the Mavericks franchise into a blaze. Doncic at the time he was traded was dealing with an injury, but just the year previous he had led the team to their first NBA Finals appearance since 2011. Luka was set up to be the best player in franchise history and carry on a legacy of winning that Dirk had left them with upon his retirement in 2018. Harrison with the backing of the new ownership group in Dallas, wanted to force a 2-3 year window where they felt with a core of Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving surrounded by athletic and tall forwards, could win the championship with a defense first mentality. However, this would quickly blow up in the face of Harrison, as shortly after acquiring Davis, he would suffer a multitude of injuries, including in his first game, which would sideline him until the end of the regular season.

The Mavericks, due to their lack of ball handling after the Luka trade, forced Irving to play nearly 40 minutes a night for a month straight as he was turning 33 years of age. This would catch up to him as they would lose Irving to an Achilles injury, which is going to sideline him until at least the beginning of 2026, and likely past the All-Star break. This also puts into question the status Irving will return to once he recovers from this injury. With Irving out for the beginning of this season so far, the Mavericks, while being one of the best defensive teams in the league, have so far been tied for the worst offense in the NBA, which has led to a 3-10 record, good for second worst in the conference. The trade left a gaping hole for the Mavericks, especially with the roster construction. These players outside of Davis were brought in to surround a Luke Doncic-led team, and the translation without him has not been positive. We are all aware of the shockwaves the trade in early February of this year sent through the NBA as a whole, but this trade will affect the Dallas Mavericks for a long time to come. They just drafted Cooper Flagg, the number one overall pick in this past year’s draft, as well as possibly the savior of this franchise moving forward. Although they lucked out with the 18-year-old potential superstar in the making, they unfortunately are left with little to no draft capital to help Cooper during the potential seven seasons they will have with him moving forward. Thus, this is causing major concerns in Dallas, as pieces will most likely need to be moved in order to emphasize tanking for a higher draft pick in this upcoming 2026 NBA draft. This is a highly touted class with players like AJ Dybantsa from BYU and Cameron Boozer from Duke. This could be the only opportunity for the Mavericks to pair a potential superstar with Flagg for the future moving forward. Dallas has multiple veteran players on their roster, and key among them is Anthony Davis. Davis, 31 years of age, is their most valuable asset on the roster outside of Cooper Flagg.

Davis, if the Mavericks decide to move on with the tank, will be one of the most important pieces for the team to move on from to set Cooper up for success in the future. However, with his injury history, which made the trade for him to Dallas confusing in the first place, he is not the easiest piece to move. Davis has already been struggling with a calf injury to begin the season and has been questionable in multiple games to start the season. However, when he is playing, Davis is one of the best defensive pieces in the entire NBA, the main trait Harrison was seeking when he traded for him back in February.Davis, although he is one of the top 75 players in NBA history and could make any team he would potentially join better, is not an easy player to move. First, his contract: Davis is owed 54 million this season from the Mavericks, and in order to trade him, that salary would have to be matched in a deal with another team. Davis is one of the highest-paid players, and even with bad contracts on other teams that they would be willing to dump, Davis well surpasses that dollar amount on a per-year basis. In order for teams to trade for him, they would also have to be able to give much-needed draft compensation to Dallas, and good draft assets that Dallas would potentially want back in return are hard to come by.

Dallas does not have control of a single one of their draft picks after this upcoming draft until 2031, six years into the career of Cooper Flagg at that point in time. The Mavericks also have a lot of veteran contracts on this team, like Klay Thompson, and especially Kyrie Irving, who could end up being another trade chip that becomes vital to the team moving forward. The Mavericks need to pivot and hit on their 2026 first-round draft choice in this upcoming stellar draft. The last time the Mavericks won the championship, they overcame what seemed to be insurmountable odds to get that ring. The front office in Dallas is going to have to overcome similar challenges moving forward to make their way back.