Barely a month ago, the Dallas Mavericks made a stupid movement in the commercial superstar Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers for a tiny package centered on Anthony Davis. The day after the news, the director general of the Mavericks, Nico Harrison, held a press conference to discuss the agreement that always sends shock throughout the league.
Fans have sought a contrition and insurance in Harrison’s words. At the very least, a credible explanation on the reason why the franchise has exchanged a generational talent of 26 years which goes towards the conduct of this exact team at the Nba Finals nine months earlier. Instead, Harrison hammered the idea that “the defense wins the championships”, the subtlety cutting Dončić by saying that Davis “added” to the culture of what he and the Mavericks were trying to build.
Rumors and reports were non -stop regarding the reasoning behind Dallas’s decision, which mainly aimed to demolish Dončić as a player, questioning his commitment to stay in shape, his failure as a locking defender and his penchant to enjoy his free time by drinking beer – as if all the other players in the Hall of Fame in the history of the league treated their body as a temple.
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Harrison and the governor of Mavericks, Patrick Dumont, used Kobe Bryant’s work ethics and his motto “Mamba mentality” as the norm of what they want from their players in the future, something that, according to them, Dončić did not correspond.
But even by putting aside the fragile reasons for the reason why Harrison decided to pull the trigger from this offer, the return does not make much sense. Davis is one of the best defenders in the League and is himself an offensive player in the Top 10, but he is also on the wrong side of 30 with a history of injuries that can be read as long as a CVS receipt. By exchanging the two players, the Mavericks are essentially mortgage for their future, which Harrison said that he does not care.
“The future for me is in three to four years,” Harrison said the day after trade. “In the ten years, they will probably shift me and (the coach of the Mavericks Jason Kidd) at that time. Or we will bury ourselves.”
Well, take a shovel and start digging. It has been a month since the short -term trade and short -term plan of Harrison is already exploding in his face. Davis played a total of 31 minutes for the Mavericks after picking up an adductor tension in his First of all Game in a Dallas uniform. A few games after that, another Dallas’ great men fell when Daniel Gafford picked up a knee sprain. Oh, and Dereck Lively II has been released since January 15 with a fracture ankle. The Mavericks had the final blow to death earlier this week when the team announced that the goalkeeper Kyrie Irving supported an ACL tear In his left knee during the team’s 122-98 defeat against the Sacramento Kings, putting the touch for the rest of the season, and probably most of the next season.
Late Tuesday, Harrison published a statement on Irving’s injury in which he sparked more praise and emotions than he never said about Dončić after exchanging him in the middle of the night. Harrison again spoke of Bryant’s work ethics: “His work ethics and his absolute dedication to his profession, he is cut off from the fabric of the big ones. I know, I lived it and I see the same ferocity and the same passion in him that I saw in Kobe.” Harrison called Irving the “heart and soul” of the Mavericks and addressed its “evolution and growth” as a player. He essentially read like another tour of the turn to Dončić, the guy who wore the Mavericks franchise on his back since the day he was drafted. But I’m getting lost.
With Irving’s LCA injury, this future four years, Harrison focuses only on the evaporated. An LCA tear can take between 8 and 12 months to heal completely, so at the last Irving will not be available before March 2026. And this assumes that IRVING even remains in Dallas after this season, because it has a player option of 43.96 million dollars which he is able to withdraw to become a free agent without restriction and sign elsewhere.
This is problem 1, and whatever Irving’s decision to stay or leave, it still does not change the fact that it will miss the most, or perhaps all next season. Then we arrive at our second concern: Anthony Davis. Why would Davis want to waste a season with Dallas when he can try to force a job elsewhere for a championship team?
There is nothing to suggest that Davis would force a movement, but perhaps he is wise for the Mavericks of Consider negotiating the stars strikerAs my colleague Sam Quinn suggested. If Irving must miss all next season, the first time that Duo will be available to play together, will take place in the 2026-27 season, when Davis is 33 years old and Irving is 34 years old. Banking on both healthy at this time is a massive risk, and everything you need is one more injury to make Harrison’s already harebrend has completely derailed Harrison.
Davis is not going to seek massive transport for the Mavericks, although they did not have one for Dončić either, and Harrison is perhaps too proud to even exchange the guy on which he has just joined his entire career. But in addition to all the theoretical ideas on what the Mavericks should At this point, all of this was completely avoidable if Harrison had not exchanged Dončić.
I’m not saying that Dončić exchanged led to Irving’s old -fashioned injury. But in the past six weeks, Irving has led the league in minutes (38.7). Most of the offensive responsibilities have fallen on his shoulders without Dončić leaning, and as a guard of sub-dimensional veterans who like to go to the edge, representatives begin to add up, increasing the probability of an injury, although that as catastrophic as this could never have been predicted.
But if Irving has torn his ACL with Dončić still on the list, at least that would only be breened next and a half for Dallas. Dončić has always been the defect of the Mavericks, someone who is barely at his peak, and could be rebuilt if Irving has had trouble starting in shape. Without him there, the Mavericks are like a ship that flowed slowly by meeting his inevitable disappearance with Harrison always trying to convince everyone that what he did was the right decision.
This four -year window that Harrison mentioned quickly turned into a two -year window, and even it is generous given who they built this team. It is more than willing to take up the blame if this whole test takes place on the side, which you might very well have said that he has already had, but Harrison’s will to take responsibility does not ignore the pride with which he acted during the exchange of Dončić in the first place. And to worsen things, even if the Mavericks had decided to dismiss Harrison today, the damage he caused will be felt throughout this franchise for a better part of the next decade, since Dallas does not control any of his own first round choices between 2027 and 2030.
Harrison’s short -term plan was quickly engulfed by fiery hell, and the Long -term perspectives seem to be worse. With the way it takes place, Harrison can be relieved of his functions for a long time, but the Mavericks will be stuck while holding the bag while being forced to watch Dončić wear the jersey of another team while continuing his ascent to one of the greatest players in the history of the League. And Harrison will always remain in memories like the guy who sent him in what is already the worst profession in the history of the NBA.
