On Tuesday, the Dallas Mavericks fired general manager Nico Harrison, as reported by ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania. Many had been pining for this move to be made for a while now, ever since Dallas traded away Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in February.
Since the Doncic trade, fans had made a habit of chanting “Fire Nico” at Mavericks home games, and recently, one anonymous Mavericks player got 100% honest on the toll that took on the players themselves.
“These people don't want us to win,” said one player, per Tim McMahon of ESPN.
The Mavericks themselves certainly haven't been doing a great job of giving fans a good product to cheer for so far this year, as the team currently sits at 3-8 following Monday night's loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in heartbreaking fashion.
Number one overall pick Cooper Flagg is starting to look like the real deal, but injuries to Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving, as well as severe regression from shooting guard Klay Thompson, have kept Dallas from being overly competitive thus far this year.
It remains to be seen what direction the franchise will take now that Harrison is out of the picture, and whether they will look to continue his vision of building a championship contender in the short term, or instead blow it all up and fully commit to building around Flagg.
The Mavericks will play their first game of the post-Nico Harrison era on Wednesday evening when they host the Phoenix Suns.
