It’s no secret that the Dallas Mavericks are in a bad place at the moment. Sitting at 2-6, these Mavs have lost at home to two of the worst teams in the NBA already, losing to the Wizards and Pelicans
all within a spell of three weeks. This extended stretch has taxed everyone involved, seemingly causing Jason Kidd to use the “this is fine” meme to motivate his team. Cooper Flagg, who lost just four games at Duke, is seemingly exasperated at the amount of losing that this team is doing.
All of that raises a bigger question. What changes must be made to the team and the organization? This is the worst offense in the NBA by a mile, and that falls on the man who created this roster. And for the first time since the Luka Doncic trade last year, it seems that there is at least some level of question surrounding Nico Harrison’s job security. As per ESPN’s Tim MacMahon on his podcast, Howdy Partners:
“When I say big changes might be coming, the legitimate question right now is ‘is Nico Harrison’s job in serious jeopardy?’ That is an absolutely legitimate question. It’s the question Mavericks fans have been hoping would be answered in the affirmative since early February. I don’t have a firm answer for you right now, that’s as much as I can tell you. But it is absolutely a legitimate question. When you talk about the Mavericks to people around the league, it is the first question that people are asking.”
You can watch the full podcast with MacMahon and ESPN’s Michael Wright here.
Well then! While change probably isn’t anywhere close to imminent, it is nice to see that there is clearly some level of understanding that there needs to be some accountability here around the league. As MacMahon notes, Mavericks Governor Patrick Dumont “put his blind trust into Nico, and it’s blowing up in his face.”
Very wealthy people don’t like being publicly humiliated. And if you are familiar with the political scene in DFW, this isn’t the first disaster that the Adelson family must deal with this week. For the first time since February, it feels like there’s some real heat on Harrison. Here’s to hoping he doesn’t ruin anything else in effort to save this thing from certain doom.
