The Dallas Mavericks Have Finally Fired Nico Harrison After Just 9 Months Following The Luka Doncic Trade

Rocky Widner. Getty Images.

If you paid any attention to all the smoke from yesterday where pretty much every reporter in Dallas was suggesting that the firing of Nico Harrison was more of a "when" situation as opposed to an "if" situation, you probably had a good idea of what was coming next.

Following another Mavs loss on Monday night to drop to 3-8 on the season, we finally got the Shams bomb that Mavs fans have been waiting for since February. Nico Harrison is officially out.

I guess months and months of chanting FIRE NICO actually worked! Listen, this isn't really about any of us. This is about Mavs fans. They deserve this shit. The hell they've been put through since the Luka Trade is downright insane. While this doesn't change anything, Luka is still a Laker and the Mavs are still rather cooked as a team and franchise, at least the fans have this. At least now they can finally have some closure to this whole thing, which is cool for them. 

For Nico, yikes man. Just 9 months ago you were sitting on a team that just made the Finals and had a generational talent who wasn't even in his NBA prime age yet. Then, you decided to let Rob Pelinka take advantage of you, you ruined everything in the Mavs organization and now you're fired just 9 months later. 

WOOF.

All that talk about his vision and how one day fans would understand, my guess is getting fired 9 months after executing the worst trade in sports history and essentially tanking an entire franchise wasn't part of that vision. The crazy part is before the Luka trade, Nico's moves weren't that bad! But ever since that moment, an ending like this felt inevitable, especially since the Mavs are easily one of the worst teams in the league at the moment with a future that outside of Cooper Flagg looks even worse.

So what happens next? If you're the Mavs you may as well tear it all the way down. Take 60 cents on the dollar for AD to try and get some picks back considering you basically don't own your own pick after this summer for the rest of the decade. I'd even take some calls on Kyrie as he's coming back from his ACL. At this point, the Mavs need to move from "contention" mode to "asset accumulation" mode, and you may as well start with two aging players who are now no longer on your timeline. I have no idea what the market even is for an injured Kyrie and an injured AD, but there's no point in keeping them at this point. Embrace being bad, get a high pick, restock your draft capital and enter a rebuild. It's time.

And while the firing of Nico Harrison is a step in the right direction, I still wouldn't be totally sold as a Mavs fan. This entire situation is also very much an ownership issue as well. I don't know how anyone could have confidence that the Mavs ownership group has any idea what they are doing, and you have to trust that they bring in someone to take over for Nico that actually might. Remember, they signed off on all this bullshit too, and if they didn't want to trade Luka, then he wouldn't have been traded. While it's obviously the right decision, it does feel a little PR-y to me, like the Mavs ownership group is trying to save face after one of the dumbest decisions we've ever see in professional sports.

But you know what? You have to start somewhere when it comes to building back the trust and relationship with your fans. It was very clear that was never going to happen with Nico still being in charge, so at least this is a step in the right direction.

Will it matter? Probably not. Again, Luka Doncic is still a Laker, and that's not changing any time soon. But at least Mavs fans won't have to worry about Nico Harrison ruining their favorite team, so I guess take whatever win you can get at this point.