The Dallas Mavericks are currently gearing up for their play-in game matchup vs the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday evening. It's been a long fall from grace for the team since their shocking early February trade of Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, who have since secured the number three seed in the Western Conference.

The main target of criticism from fans and pundits alike has been Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison, who pulled the strings of the shocking deal, which many consider to be among the worst in modern sports history.

Recently, Harrison held a press conference with some members of the Dallas media, and Tim Cato of All City reported on X that Harrison “said ‘defense wins championships' repeatedly in response to any question about why the Luka trade happened.”

In fact, transcripts of the press conference reveal that Harrison uttered the cliche a whopping several times, per ClutchPoints' Brett Siegel.

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While the Mavericks certainly got the better defender in the trade by swapping out Doncic for Anthony Davis, they also lost out on a consensus top-three player in the NBA who led them to an NBA Finals appearance less than a year ago.

There is no historical precedent for a team trading a player the caliber of Doncic without him explicitly asking for him to do so, especially not as they are just theoretically entering their prime years of their career.

If the Mavericks are able to surprise some folks and win two straight play-in games, they'd likely be heading for a quick exit at the hands of the 68-win Oklahoma City Thunder, while Doncic and the Lakers will be favored to advance in their first round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Still, it wouldn't appear that Nico Harrison himself has many, if any, regrets about the shocking move.