Hot Seat, Nico Harrison: Mavs Owner Patrick Dumont Is Reportedly Frustrated With Nico Harrison Because He Didn't Warn Him That The Fanbase Would Lose Their Shit If Luka Was Traded
Justin Ford. Getty Images.It's another day that ends in "Y" which means that we naturally have more updates to the Nico Harrison/Dallas Mavericks/Luke Doncic Trade saga. I'm sure at this point a lot of people out there are tired of this stuff, I'm sure Mavs fans are certainly ready to turn the page and move on, but when something this insane happens it's only natural that int he ensuing weeks/months we as outsiders get more and more nuggets of what actually happened and how we got here.
Our latest look behind the curtain comes from a deep dive into the situation from ESPN, which is long, but definitely worth the time if you're interested in this sort of thing
There are a lot of wild parts to that story, but there's one aspect of it in particular that I found to be rather outrageous. It's hard to know who to truly blame for this mess. Some people point to Nico Harrison, some point to the ownership group, some people think everyone is to blame etc. And while we already got the sense that nobody in that front office has any idea what they're doing, there's one detail in that story that literally made me spit out my coffee that I wasn't even drinking
“However, those team sources consistently express belief that Dumont no longer sees Harrison as a figure with irreproachable basketball expertise. Most notably, team and league sources say, Dumont has had frustration with Harrison not warning him — or, perhaps even more damningly, being unaware — of the fandom’s outrage following the trade. Those same sources say it had some influence over Dumont’s decision to make Harrison appear for last week’s closed media event, which Harrison did not want to.”
I'm sorry, but is this the dumbest motherfucker of all time? It's been widely reported that Patrick Dumont is not a "basketball guy", and that's why he trusted Nico Harrison to handle that aspect of the team. In hindsight, that was a beyond terrible decision, but that's not the point here.
You do NOT need to be a "basketball guy" to understand the magnitude of the Mavs trading Luka Doncic and how that might go over with the fanbase. I mean, what are we even doing? This dude needed to "be warned" that trading Luka might cause the fanbase to revolt? How could that even be remotely possible? When you buy the Dallas Mavericks, are you unaware that Luka Doncic is the franchise player? If this sounds familiar, it's because this nugget of info is coming out right after we learned that the Mavs CEO did the same thing
Again I ask, how the hell is this even remotely possible? Are all of these people living under a rock or something? We've heard a lot of insane aspects to this saga, but everyone in the Mavs front office not really understanding or being aware of just how pissed the fans would be as a result of this move has to be near the top of the list. So are we to believe that if the owner understood how pissed fans would be, that the trade would have never happened?
Do the Mavs understand how insane this is? What did they think would be the reaction!
And while nobody feels bad for Nico Harrison, this does feel a little fucked up. To me this sounds like the owner is having one of these moments
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and now he wants to skip any of the blame and instead say it's all Nico's fault for not warning him about how the fanbase would react. Sorry bozo, that's not how this works! Sure Nico may be a moron, but you're a grown ass man with a functioning (I think) brain. You don't need to know shit about basketball or team building to know that Luka Doncic was beloved by the city and the fanbase and that trading him would result in a disaster. You also don't need your idiot GM to warn you about the risks of what trading that player will do to your newly purchased franchise. Just use your brain for me one time!
Even if Nico Harrison is some sort of new-aged villain who was hellbent on shipping Luka out of town no matter what, the owner still has final say. Maybe a quick little "are we sure this is a good idea?" gut check would have saved this franchise from a world of pain. A crazy thought I know, but I'm still struggling to understand how any of this could have been a surprise to a single person in the Mavs front office. How can an entire organization, from top to bottom, be this dense and have such a lack of awareness? That might be the scary part of all of this, considering these are the people now in charge of fixing everything (for now).
As I keep saying whenever a new update comes out, my heart continues to go out to Mavs fans. Every new bit of information is just another kick right to the dick. Now they have to stomach the fact that their owner didn't even realize the fanbase liked Luka Doncic? Surely that will win them over and get them back on board! Just run through the list
1. They traded a 25 year old franchise player
2. They gaslit the entire fanbase while doing it, saying this team was actually better
3. They basically told Dirk to go fuck himself
4. They are openly admitting they had no idea fans cared about Luka
How does a franchise survive all that? It seems like reality is finally setting in for this ownership group that they've now done irreparable damage that frankly they may never recover from…..all from a situation that was completely self-inflicted.
I can't ever remember a situation like this in all of NBA history. It's a car crash you simply cannot look away from, and you get the feeling that we're only in the beginning stages. Just wait until we get more "sources" who are ready to spill the beans as time goes on. This might be an all time 30 for 30 by the end of it all. What a story.