Draymond Green will readily admit that the Dallas Mavericks shouldn’t have traded Luka Doncic, although he understands Nico Harrison’s rationale.
Nico Harrison and Luka Doncic are forever linked. As soon as the Dallas Mavericks traded their star to the Los Angeles Lakers, fans have been calling for him to be fired, although the Mavericks’ drafting of Cooper Flagg quelled some of their anger.
Earlier this week, Doncic revealed to Men’s Health that he is in the best shape of his life, drawing more ire in Harrison’s direction. The general manager cited Doncic’s lack of consideration as a key reason for the trade, and he has quickly proven Harrison wrong.
However, there is a case to be made that Doncic would never be in a position to silence doubters if the trade had never happened in the first place.
When Doncic was traded, it was clear that he was not in his best playing shape. Granted, he had missed the previous 19 games with a calf injury and had dragged Dallas to the Finals the season before, so most fans were ready to overlook his slow start to the 2024-25 season.
Harrison, apparently, was not in that camp. He and team owner Patrick Dumont cited Doncic’s poor work ethic as the reason behind the trade, although Luka has quickly proven them wrong.
Current star Draymond Green thinks Luka would not have gotten in shape if he weren’t motivated by the trade.
“Does Luka have that same fire if not traded from Dallas?” Green asked on Threads. “Nico can be right [in] his thinking and end up wrong in the end, because he doesn’t play the game and Luka is one of the greatest talents we have seen. But it doesn’t just mean s— on Nico either.”
With Doncic in shape and ready to lead the Lakers next season, Harrison is eating crow, although Green still understands the rationale, even if most fans don’t.
In the season before he was traded, Doncic led the league in scoring with 33.9 points per game and nearly averaged a triple-double, making his fifth All-NBA First Team in a row.
He led Dallas to its first Finals appearance since 2011, posting 28.9 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 8.1 assists in the postseason. He was criticized in the playoffs for a lack of conditioning and discipline, although he had cemented himself as one of the three best players in the world despite that.
Fans were quick to point out that even an “unhealthy” Doncic was an elite player, so trading him simply didn’t make much sense.
There is reason to believe that Doncic would have spent this summer in the gym regardless of if he was traded or not, which undermines Green’s point about Harrison being right in his thinking and yet ending up wrong.
The only right call for Harrison to make would have been not to trade Doncic, and even with Flagg in town, fans will continue to remind him of that.
