Calling Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison a popular topic of discussion among NBA fans is putting it mildly. He’s made a decision that has massive consequences for the Mavericks and NBA history itself.
On Feb. 1, Harrison traded away one of the game’s biggest superstars in point guard Luka Dončić. The word “superstar” does not do Dončić justice — he has been a fixture on the All-NBA First Team since his second season, has averaged over 28 points per game across his NBA career and took the Mavericks to a 2024 NBA Finals berth before falling to the Boston Celtics in five games. He accomplished all that at only 25 years old. Simply put, he’s one of the best young players the NBA has ever seen.
This is not a relitigation of how inadequate the return package for Dončić was. Yes, the Mavericks got good players back, such as Anthony Davis and Max Christie. Davis is a 2020 NBA champion who averages 25.7 points and 12 rebounds. Christie is a 6’5 wing in the midst of his best season, shooting 38.9% from three-point range at only 21 years old. Even so, this combination is unlikely to provide an impact equivalent to Dončić’s. The first few days post-trade have not started well either — Davis had an incredible first half as a Maverick before being ruled out for multiple weeks with an adductor strain.
Instead, you should view this trade t as a larger microcosm of the NBA’s problems: front office egos overruling the feelings of fans and an overreliance on nostalgia.
From an emotional perspective, the feeling of Dončić potentially maturing into an NBA champion through multiple playoff runs cannot be measured. The fans who wanted to see Dončić battle through more postseason opponents, reach the Finals again and deliver for Dallas will never get to see that now. Instead, they found out their franchise icon was gone in the middle of the night and read leaks to the press about his poor conditioning and weight gain — all while he was out with an injury. It is needlessly cruel to both the fans and Dončić.
The Mavericks’ mistreatment of Dončić also hurts his wallet. Because he is no longer with Dallas, he is not eligible for the five-year, $345 million supermax contract waiting for stars that stay with their teams. General managers should not let fans dictate the decisions they make, but there is a level of respect that needs to exist for the people affected by their decisions. Harrison negotiated exclusively with the Lakers to get Davis out of Los Angeles. Role players like Knicks forward Mikal Bridges got traded for five first-round draft picks. The Brooklyn Nets turned Kevin Durant into two solid role players and four first-round picks from the Phoenix Suns. It’s ludicrous to believe Dončić could not have fetched a return that beat both of those packages.
In their desire to achieve immediate success, the Mavericks may have fallen victim to the same problem plaguing teams like the Suns, who gutted their lineup and future in order to add Durant. Teams prioritizing known names over a strong nucleus of four to five championship contributors are doomed to fail. Rather than building a rock-solid rotation, the Mavericks brought in an older, “win-now” star in Davis.
This strategy of picking NBA longtimers can backfire. The Suns further compounded their mistake by trading for All-Star Bradley Beal, who they demoted from the starting lineup, and cannot be traded due to his massive contract and no-trade clause. Interestingly, they made this trade at the behest of Suns owner Mat Ishbia. Ishbia wanted to create a winner fast in Phoenix rather than letting the process of team development run its course. As a result, his team has the highest payroll in the NBA and might miss the playoffs entirely.
This obsession with big names isn’t just limited to NBA owners. The NBA itself does a terrible job of allowing new legends to rise. For example, the primetime spot for the Christmas Day game this year was the Lakers vs. Warriors in another showdown between LeBron James and Steph Curry. At the time, neither team looked to be particularly strong. However, the NBA relegated an equally exciting game between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs to a noon game. Spurs center Victor Wembenyama, who is already a top-ten player in the game at 21 years old, dropped 42 points while the Knicks narrowly held on to win. New York is third in the Eastern Conference, plays in the biggest media market in the NBA and won against Wembenyama, who makes plays that look impossible on a nightly basis. It is mind-boggling to think this matchup was not worthy of primetime. With the Dončić trade, the NBA is now going to deal with declining interest from their fifth-biggest media market in Dallas. Even more eyes will be on the Lakers, but they hardly need the attention considering how the league already markets James. Dončić always brought eyes to the Mavericks. Now, he’ll be competing with James for the LA spotlight.
The NBA and its executives are chasing the short-term highs rather than setting themselves up for sustainable success. Its ratings are down for a multitude of reasons that include irritating regional TV deals, over-reliance on the three-point shot and stars missing swathes of the irrationally-long 82-game season. Events like the Dončić trade only make the situation worse and frustrate the people who give the league its staying power — the fans.