Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison says he miscalculated the depth of love his club’s fans had for Luka Dončić before the controversial trade that sent the star to the Los Angeles Lakers.
But, despite the persistent calls from fans for Harrison to be fired in the months since the deal, he still believes it was the right move for building a championship contender in Dallas.
“I did know that Luka was important to the fanbase,” Harrison said on Monday. “I didn’t quite know it to what level.”
Harrison said he had expected blowback from the trade, but thought it would have eased sooner if Anthony Davis, who the Lakers sent to the Mavs in return for Dončić, had been able play with Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, PJ Washington and Dereck Lively II. Instead, those five haven’t played together yet, and the star combo of Davis and Irving shared fewer than three quarters together because of injuries to both players.
“We feel that’s a championship-caliber team and we would have been winning at a high level and that would have quieted some of the outrage,” Harrison said. “And so unfortunately we weren’t able to do that, so it just continued to go on and on.
Harrison said he believed the Mavs will get a good player in the first round of this year’s draft, where they are slated to pick 11th. He also didn’t rule out changes in free agency. But when asked what Dallas needed to become a contender again, Harrison said, “Really, we just need to get healthy. I think the team we’re bringing back is a championship caliber. We fully expect to have Kyrie back with us next year when he gets healed from his injury. And we believe we’ll be competing for a championship.”
Harrison said repeatedly last week that “defense wins championships” while defending the trade. Dončić, who has been criticized for his defense despite leading the Mavs to the NBA finals last season, described those comments as “sad”.
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Harrison, who said he hasn’t spoken to the five-time All-NBA since the trade, was asked about that exchange and said, “I feel the same way he does. I’ve actually never spoken ill of Luka, and I’m just ready to move on with this team that we have.”