Mavs GM Nico Harrison remains steadfast that trading Luka Doncic was the right move

DALLAS (AP) - Nico Harrison is undeterred by the ongoing chants of fans calling for the Dallas Mavericks general manager’s job.

Those catcalls persist in all sorts of settings 2 1/2 months after young superstar Luka Doncic was sent to the Los Angeles Lakers in a seismic trade that brought Anthony Davis to Dallas and unrelenting criticism upon the man who triggered the deal.

At the time, Harrison thought the Mavs had the prospect of a title contender by adding Davis to a lineup that eventually would include guard Kyrie Irving, promising young center Dereck Lively II, veteran 3-point threat Klay Thompson and versatile defender P.J. Washington Jr.

Because of injuries, the next time those five play together will be the first, and won’t happen until sometime during the 2025-26 season. The star duo of Davis and Irving had just 2 1/2 quarters together before Davis injured a groin in his Dallas debut, and Irving tore the ACL in his left knee while Davis was sidelined.

"I do agree that history will decide it," Harrison said Tuesday in his first meeting with reporters in Dallas since the trade that shocked the NBA just past midnight on the East Coast on Feb. 2.

"But I go back to what I said in my opening statement," Harrison said. "Putting the roster on the floor with Kyrie, Klay, P.J., Anthony Davis, and Lively, that's a championship-caliber team. And although the fans could have been upset with trading Luka, they wouldn't have been upset with the results."

The injuries are forcing the fans to wait for the results, but even if the results are good, one of the questions is how many fans will care. The Mavs unloaded arguably the second-most popular player in franchise history behind Dirk Nowitzki just nine months after Doncic led them to the NBA Finals as a 25-year-old.

The big German carried Dallas to the 2011 title and spent all 21 of his seasons with one franchise, an NBA record. Doncic’s rookie season was Nowitzki’s last, so the natural assumption for many fans was that the same would happen with the Slovenian who debuted as a 19-year-old in 2018.

Harrison said he believes the vitriol from fans would have eased if Davis and Irving had been able to finish the season together. While he said he didn’t underestimate the reaction from fans, Harrison acknowledged how it left little question as to the deep impact Doncic had in Dallas.

None of the above has swayed Harrison’s belief in the trade.

"There’s no regrets on the trade," Harrison said. "Part of my job is to do the best thing for the Mavericks, not only today, but also in the future. And some of the decisions I’m gonna make are gonna be unpopular. That’s my job, and I have to stand by it."

Standing by it meant saying multiple times, "Defense wins championships," when asked to justify the trade. Harrison also has been criticized for not getting more than Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first-round pick in the deal.

"With our philosophy of defense wins championships, we wanted a two-way player to lead our team," Harrison said. "And that was Anthony Davis. And so everybody's going to have their critics. But we got what we wanted."

The one-hour session also included CEO Rick Welts, who was hired in December to replacing the retiring Cynt Marshall. The focus was so much on the trade and its future ramifications, nobody brought up the Mavs’ trip to Sacramento for a play-in tournament meeting Wednesday night.

To make the playoffs, the 10th-seeded Mavs would have to beat the No. 9 seed Kings and win another road play-in game at the the loser of the 7-8 meeting between Golden State and Memphis.

Harrison praised coach Jason Kidd and the healthy players for Dallas even having the longest shot at a West playoff berth a season after losing to Boston in five games in the NBA Finals.

Part of Harrison’s reasoning for a bright future was his view of the way the club responded to multiple games where it could barely meet the league minimum of eight healthy players.

"They didn't stop playing, so I'm super optimistic about that, and I believe in the trade I made," Harrison said. "I am optimistic and excited about the future. And I do believe that once we win, the fans will come back."