Report: Nico Harrison fired 3 Mavericks employees he viewed as Luka Doncic's "enablers"
Dallas Mavericks GM Nico Harrison stunned the basketball world by trading Luka Doncic to the LA Lakers in February. Doncic was expected to be a pillar of the Mavs for at least the next decade. However, Harrison had other plans, sending Doncic to the Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis just months after the Slovenian had led Dallas to the NBA Finals.
In a column for ESPN, Tim MacMahon broke down some of Nico Harrison's decisions that led up to the trade.
Nico Harrison reportedly fired multiple employees viewed as 'enablers' of Luka Doncic
Not long after Dallas came up short against the Boston Celtics, two members of the Mavs' performance staff were removed from their positions. MacMahon reported this week that it was because Harrison felt they enabled Doncic's behavior. MacMahon also wrote that Casey Smith, Dallas' director of health and performance, was let go the year before for a similar reason.
"Smith, Holsopple and Spangler were all longtime Mavs employees who had helped Doncic, a Slovenian who spent his adolescence in Spain, make the major cultural transition after coming to Dallas as a teenager," MacMahon wrote. "They had become confidantes for the superstar, but sources said Harrison saw them as 'enablers' of Doncic."
When news of the trade broke, many believed it had to do with Doncic's conditioning. The Mavericks didn't believe Doncic put enough work into maintaining himself physically, which raised concern as he was getting ready to be eligible for a supermax extension.
Last week, Nico Harrison addressed a select group of Dallas media for the first time since the blockbuster trade. When these firings were brought up, he stated that the decision has yielded positive results.
"We feel that the guys that replaced them have done an amazing job," Harrison said. "And again, you're coming at me from a negative standpoint, and I look at it from a positive standpoint. The guys that we brought in are better."
Following the Doncic trade, things quickly went off the rails for the Mavs. AD ended up getting hurt in his debut, and Kyrie Irving later suffered a season-ending ACL injury.
Dallas tried to salvage its season in the play-in tournament but failed to secure a spot in the playoffs. Harrison will now attempt to improve the roster over the summer in hopes of proving his critics wrong.