THOUGHTS | THE NICO HARRISON SITUATION

IMAGE FROM THE NEW YORK POST

The Nico Harrison experiment is over, and Dallas just got wrecked.

I saw the fallout of his work, and while I wasn’t too upset about what happened with the Luka Doncic trade a couple of months ago—since it led to Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and eventually the selection of Cooper Flagg—the other things Harrison did were insane.

Basically, it feels like Dallas went from a contender to a pretender in the four years he was with the squad, and the organization’s morale was never the same after he traded Luka and let Anthony Davis gain the weight he currently has.

I know I shouldn’t fat-shame because I’m overweight too, but you’re supposed to gain weight in the offseason, not while the season is underway. Davis might have calf issues, but he’s only listed as day-to-day. I know it’s the player’s responsibility to stay in shape, but Harrison needs to force the player to stay in shape since he is the only one who got him in the first place. I don’t know if Harrison is just being lax, but Luka had the same problem, which is why he was traded to Los Angeles in the first place. Connecting the past to the present, Harrison should have just let Doncic do his thing in Dallas. At least that wouldn’t have caused the backlash he is facing now.

Or, faced now.

Who knew his superstar's weight problem would lead to his dismissal?

Then there’s the current problem with D’Angelo Russell, Cooper Flagg, and Davis. To compensate for the absence of Kyrie Irving, whom Harrison signed to a three-year, $136 million deal, he signed Russell to a two-year contract. Sure, it’s a budget deal worth around $12 million, but they’re also letting Flagg play point guard. I just don’t think this trio can work together. In some ways, Flagg is playing out of position, D-Lo will end up doing the same things that made him a glorified version of Quentin Grimes or Spencer Dinwiddie, and Davis will still need to chase his stats no matter what.

The thing about Flagg is that while he could be a generational talent, he’s starting to give off Andrew Wiggins vibes. I always thought Wiggins could have been better if he hadn’t been placed in situations where another superstar overshadowed him. You draft a number one pick to build around, not to make him a supplement to an established superstar.

Cleveland was right to send Wiggins to Minnesota for Kevin Love because they already had LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. But once in Minnesota, Wiggins became the third option behind Karl-Anthony Towns and Jimmy Butler. He could have leapfrogged Butler in the hierarchy, but Towns was a young, top-tier center in a league that lacked dominant big men at that time.

Going back to Flagg, he needs to be the franchise’s top player in the role where he’s most comfortable. I don’t think forcing him to play a different position will help, especially since the Mavericks are already overloaded in the frontcourt. As for the Lakers, yes, LeBron James is injured, but Luka’s tag-team partner is an undrafted go-getter. You’re telling me the Lakers can do what Dallas did on a shoestring budget?

And yes, I know the Lakers’ acquisition of Austin Reaves happened because they made questionable moves too.

The fact that Dallas still had Davis, PJ Washington, Dereck Lively, and Daniel Gafford this season is a failure on Harrison’s part. While Davis is fragile, his injury history shouldn’t justify keeping three frontliners who could have been great trade assets to fill other needs. Also, I think Flagg could have been an excellent small-ball power forward instead of being stuck in his current position. This is why Dallas is in this predicament.

The team looks disorganized, with everyone doing their own thing—not to mention the stigma surrounding the Luka trade. If Harrison hadn’t traded their beloved superstar to the Lakers, he might have kept his job. Maybe instead of immediately trading Luka, he could have hinted at it, giving fans time to see that Doncic needed to step up.

Jerry Krause involved the media when he dealt with Scottie Pippen. Sure, it was unpopular, but it also led to the Chicago Bulls winning six championships. This was also the same when Mitch Kupchak involved the media regarding the Shaq-Kobe feud. He didn't exactly say they were fighting, but the hints were enough for the public to understand why Shaquille O'Neal was being traded to the Miami Heat.

Also, both Krause and Kupchak were supported by their team's owners.

Harrison, meanwhile, became a scapegoat.

After their trip to the Finals, there was buzz around the injured Luka not taking his road to recovery seriously. He was also on the verge of getting a supermax deal. If Harrison had just made his intentions public and not shocked the world with the trade, then people might have understood where he was coming from.

The Lakers’ dismal 2025 playoff run initially made fans think Harrison made the right move by trading Luka, despite Davis’s constant injuries.

Ironically, that move also became Luka’s wake-up call. Now he’s thriving with the Lakers with a better body build and could become their top guy in the future as LeBron shows his age.

As for Klay Thompson, his situation also played a part in this mess. Yes, he’s struggling, but he left Golden State believing his talents were being wasted. I understand Jason Kidd is the coach, but the front office shouldn’t have let things spiral out of control.

Harrison believed Luka was the problem until he created even bigger ones.

In the end, what cost Harrison his job wasn’t that he was terrible at it. Actually, I still think he did a good job if only he had revealed his intentions before the trade.

It was his ego that proved his undoing.

He let his personnel walk all over him. When he finally decided to assert authority, he did it at the wrong time and in the wrong way. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Luka trade happened because Doncic no longer respected him, the locker room stopped fearing him, and his bruised ego led to irrational decisions.

When the trade snowballed into their current mess, he couldn’t recover. He couldn’t reprimand Davis for being out of shape, and he couldn’t trade him either because he was already stuck. The lack of touches angered Klay Thompson, Jason Kidd’s system fell apart, Cooper Flagg is basically playing like the rookie version of Austin Reaves, and the whole team lost its direction.

If you think Harrison will bounce back with another team, that’s highly unlikely—unless an owner believes he’s finally learned how not to be a pushover.