The fallout from the Dallas Mavericks decision to trade away Luka Doncic is still being felt.
By trading away Luka Doncic, an undisputed generational talent who led the Dallas Mavericks to last year’s NBA Finals, Nico Harrison‘s decision has been met with anger, upset, and ridicule.
The reasons behind the Doncic deal to the Los Angeles Lakers have not satisfied the Mavericks’ fanbase. And even though he enjoys the full backing of Mavericks team governor Patrick Dumont, he has been criticized by many former NBA players, including Reggie Miller.
Even Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban has reportedly not been in favor. The man who hired Harrison in 2021 is claimed to have attempted to stop the trade.
NBA insider Ramona Shelburne has attempted to provide a balanced view on Nico Harrison’s decision to trade away Luka Doncic.
Speaking to The Jim Jackson Show podcast, the ESPN analyst believes Harrison has made bold calls before, which have earned him the benefit of the doubt.
Despite being the subject of ridicule, Harrison still deserves praise for enduring all of the flak, according to Shelburne.
She explained: “The man trusts his gut, he decided to take a swing and go get Kyrie Irving, no one else wanted to take a chance on Kyrie, and felt if he put him in the environment there he would thrive and succeed, and he was totally right about that one.
“He gave up ‘too much’ for Daniel Gafford and PJ Washington and they ended up being key pieces in the Finals run. This one is a gut call here, I understand how Mavs fans feel,” she said.
“The one thing I will give him credit for, that people are missing, that man stood up there and owned it.
“He made sure he did a press conference, he explained why he did what he did, you may not like it, you can judge whether he was empathetic or not, but he owned it and he wore it. It’s very uncomfortable right now for him and his family.”
Shelburne’s argument makes sense. Although the case for Doncic can still be strongly disputed as it’s still relatively early to give up with the 25-year-old superstar. Harrison’s acquisitions of Kyrie Irving, P.J. Washington, and Daniel Gafford have provided plenty of positives for Dallas.
And even if Anthony Davis’s injury history remains questionable after going down in his first game as a Maverick, the team is still in good spot to contend for the title if they can remain healthy.
As such recently, Danny Green also offered similar thoughts related to Shelburne. While most basketball fans dispute the Mavericks’ split with the Slovenian prodigy, he believes that Harrison pulled a game-changing move that could influence the NBA market in the long-term outlook.
“I think this is a ballsy move by Nico, and good for him for making it. It could open up the floodgates and I think more GMs will take a risk of doing it,” Green said in a recent appearance on the Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show.
“[Doncic] is a great player but he’s very much a James Harden like player. James Harden is very good player but he hasn’t shown that style of play can win you a championship successfully. So if you are looking at it, the formula to win a championship we might need to change directions, Nico’s like ‘we ain’t gonna be here that long we need to win now’, so regardless, it puts us in a better position.
“Shoutout for him for having the balls to do so.”
History will certainly judge Harrison for how he ended the Mavericks’ run with Doncic. And he will be well aware of this, after a difficult fortnight.
