Reports Are Swirling That The Mavericks Are Finally Considering Freeing Themselves From The Shackles Of Nico Harrison

Justin Ford. Getty Images.

Last week, I blogged about how to the surprise of virtually no one, things had gotten even worse for Nico Harrison and the Mavs to start the 2025-26 season. That was on November 6th, after the Mavs lost at home to the Pelicans, who are one of the worst teams in the league.

Since then, they also lost to the Grizzlies (4-7), and barely pulled out a win against the Wizards who have currently lost 8 games in a row. At the moment, the Mavs sit at 3-7 and in the 15th spot in the West. While it's still early, NBA history is not exactly kind to teams that find themelves in a position the Mavs currently sit

Over the last 25 years, there have been 180 teams that began a season with a 3-7 or worse record. Only 26 of those teams ended up making the playoffs. Given how insane the West is, do we feel like the Mavs can be one of those teams? I should probably tell you that this is their next month

How many wins are in that picture above? That's a 20 game stretch against pretty much nothing but good teams. Is it crazy to think something like 4-16 is possible? Maybe 6-14? So by Christmas, you're looking at potentially a 7-23 season or something along those lines, which means your season is over.

I bring this up because when something like this is happening, there's really only one place to look. Sure, injuries are a factor, but two injury prone players being injured is not really a surprise. The focus, as it should, falls on Nico Harrison. He's the one responsible for this entire disaster, and for a while it felt like he was weirdly bulletproof. I feel like between the trade and everything that's happened since it would be more than enough for an organization to put an end to this madness. With with Nico, he kept getting a pass.

Well, based on the reporting coming out of Dallas, this nightmare for Mavs fans might finally be coming to an end

Live look at Nico Harrison:

On one hand, uhhhhhhhhhhhhh ya think? Look at what has happened to a team that was just in the NBA Finals in 2024. You add up everything that's happened since last February, and nobody should survive that.

On the other hand, while this news I'm sure would be a welcomed sight for Mavs fans who have been begging for a decision like this for months, it still doesn't bring Luka back. It doesn't undo all of the completely moronic decisions Nico Harrison has made, which have caused irreparable damage to both that franchise and that fanbase. 

In some ways, this would make me even more pissed off at the Mavs ownership group. Nico is taking a lot of heat for everything that happened (and rightfully so), but remember, ownership still had to sign off on everything. They are just as much to blame as Nico in my opinion. Even if they know nothing about basketball, maybe ya know….ask around within your organization if this was a good idea? Nobody would have said yes. So, for an ownership group to go through with all of this only to fire the guy the very next season would also infuriate me to some degree as a Mavs fan. 

That's what a shitty situation this is. There's really no positive outcome, even if the Mavs kick Nico Harrison to the curb.

I guess the benefit is you would no longer need to worry about Nico doing dumb shit, but how confident would you be as a Mavs fan that the ownership group would be able to figure out what comes next? You don't need some wizard basketball mind to know you probably shouldn't trade Luka Doncic (and all the other bonehead moves that followed). 

I also hate to be the bearer of bad news, but let's also not forget that OKC has the right to swap their pick with the Mavs' 2028 1st round pick. How do we think that's going to look? The Mavs also owe the Hornets their 2027 1st in a pick swap if it falls outside the top 2. In 2029, the Rockets can swap their pick with the Mavs if it ends up being worse than the 2029 Suns pick.

So even if the Mavs finally break free from the shackles of Nico Harrison, the damage is unfortunately already done. That doesn't mean they should keep him around just do keep him around because clearly he has no idea what he's doing, but the reality is there's no quick solve to the situation the Mavs find themselves as a franchise.

My advice? Go see if you can hire Masai Ujiri or give Bob Myers a call. They may be flawed, but at least they've built championship rosters before, and in Ujiri's case he did it for a team that wasn't exactly a destination franchise.

Certainly, their "vision" can't be worse than whatever the hell Nico Harrison has been trying to execute