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On Saturday evening, the Dallas Mavericks made arguably the most shocking trade in NBA history by sending Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for a package centered around Anthony Davis. There hadn't been much if any speculation that things in Dallas were so far gone that a trade was in order, and Doncic himself appeared as stunned as anyone to the news.
The move immediately vilified general manager Nico Harrison, who gave an eyebrow-raising press conference the morning in which he took some not so subtle shots at Doncic's lack of defense and conditioning as reasons for the trade.
However, fans were quick to speculate that there may have been an ulterior motive behind Harrison's decision, and that rumor gained some fuel with a new report on Tuesday by Tim Cato of All Dallas, per Mike Piellucci of D Magazine on X, formerly Twitter.
“There has been belief, which multiple team and league sources expressed to me over the past months long before this trade, that Harrison does not have a long-term desire to remain in his current role as general manager,” read the report.
Indeed, Harrison alluded to the future being the next three or four years in his mind without much care to what happens say 10 years down the line.
A shocking move
The Mavericks will now try to integrate new pieces Anthony Davis and Max Christie into the fold. Dallas did certainly get better on the defensive end of the floor, and they still have two star scoring options in Davis and Kyrie Irving.
However, a team looking to enter “win now” mode generally does not start by trading its franchise player, and the fact that the Mavericks did not even attempt to get a bidding war between some of their NBA counterparts going made the move even more baffling.
Arguably the only way that Harrison will be able to justify this move is if the team wins a championship this year, and even that might not be enough if Doncic ends up winning one or more with the Lakers.
