When the Mavericks announced the firing of General Manager Nico Harrison, it felt as if a storm cloud had finally cleared over the Dallas Mavericks. This came after an utterly miserable 9 months following
the Luka trade, filled with anger and resentment. But now we can move forward as Mavericks fans, and begin to look towards the future. According to ESPN insider Shams Charania, the Mavericks will appoint both Micheal Finley, and Matt Ricciardi to serve as the interim leadership. These two will be faced with picking up the pieces of Nico Harrison. And for the time being, begin to lead this franchise in a new direction.
Which might mean tearing down to start anew.
A teardown of this roster is not a new idea, but one that is shared by many Mavericks fans, even dating back to the summer. And it’s no shock why people are partial to draft picks, look at the Thunder, a team that was built through the teardown of a past contender.
But is it realistic?
This Mavs team is chocked full of win now veterans, and players who were brought in to win championships. But they aren’t going to win with this roster. The Mavs sit at 29th in offensive rating per NBA Stats, behind teams like the Washington Wizards. They have consistently been unable to generate good looks, and even when they do they often don’t make them, shooting just 29.5% from three according to NBA Stats. Now if Nico Harrison were still the GM, this wouldn’t mean anything. Nico’s “Vision” was going to happen no matter what. But now that new leadership has taken over, we could see a drastic change in this roster.
So, what should they do?
To me the answer is very obvious: a fire sale.
This begins with Klay Thompson, who probably would have been traded no matter what, but it extends beyond him. Daniel Gafford, and Naji Marshall can both be traded, and both would be pursued. Now I wouldn’t part with these veterans for pennies. While trading vets and having a firesale is good on paper, if the Mavs don’t have good trades on the table, they shouldn’t trade these players.Which leads to the ultimate question that will determine the future of this team. Do you trade Anthony Davis? AD is a great player when healthy, someone who can not only score 25, but shut down the other team’s paint attack. But his issue is off the court.
Injuries.
Since being traded to Dallas in February, Davis has only played in ~32% of the games. It is impossible to rely on him to ever stay healthy. And even when he has played it has been underwhelming. He is clearly a great player in decline, no longer the bonafide top 10 player who helped lead the Lakers to a title. But he still has value, and there would be teams willing to part with significant assets to acquire the services of the big man, after all he is still a top 15 player. Now the return the Mavs would get is a complete unknown. The situation reminds me of when the Mavericks traded for Kyrie Irving. A very talented veteran who couldn’t stay on the court. But even if you don’t get premium value for Davis, you have to trade him.This not only kickstarts a rebuild, but allows for Cooper Flagg to be a full time power forward, which is his actual position (Looking at you Kidd).
This does not have to be an extended rebuild, the hardest part of any rebuild has already happened; finding the player to build around in Cooper Flagg
Through 11 games Cooper Flagg has shown to have the talent and upside to be a future superstar, and while it isn’t guaranteed, I feel great about where he’s heading. And even if Cooper isn’t the one, the 2026 NBA draft could be an all timer, with 3 incredible talents headlining the class. There is really no better time than now to kickstart this short rebuild.
Now is this realistic? Tearing down a roster with as many talented players as the Mavs have is very rare. We don’t know how the current front office views this team, and we don’t know how the league views these players. There is an argument that when fully healthy this team COULD be a contender, but is that realistic? The two best players on the team are old and injury prone, the 21 year old center who helped them make the finals can’t stay healthy either. It isn’t worth the risk of losing a top draft pick on the off chance everyone can be healthy at the same time. Rather, being bad for a couple of years could set them up for success long term. Imagine pairing Cooper with another teenage phenom that he can grow with.
Remember those early Luka years? When they had no young players or draft picks because of the Porzingis trade. When Mavs fans were clamoring for Moses Brown and Willie Caulie-Stein.
The Mavericks can avoid that situation with Cooper. Accumulate assets and young talent. Let this team grow naturally without an immediate need for winning. Forget about playoffs and parades, and focus on Ping Pong balls.
