More than a year has passed since the Dallas Mavericks traded Luka Doncic, and yet, it remains a topic of conversation. At the time, former Mavs general manager Nico Harrison defended his decision to trade Doncic by highlighting the Slovenian star’s defensive woes. Fast forward today, and those narratives continue to follow Doncic with the Los Angeles Lakers.
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It goes without saying that Doncic was absolutely sensational during his tenure with the Mavericks. Individual accolades aside, he led the team to the 2024 NBA Finals. The Mavericks trading him away at the peak of his powers was a shocking move, to say the least. However Harrison believed defense is the basis for winning championships, which is why he sought Anthony Davis.
Of course, that experiment was a failure. Harrison was eventually fired, while Davis only played 29 games with the Mavericks. Thankfully, Dallas has Cooper Flagg, or else there would be little to no hope for the future of the franchise.
That said, Doncic’s defensive effort continues to be a talking point as the Lakers boast the 24th-ranked defense in the league. Every analyst has highlighted this facet of his performance. Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green can’t help but make the correlation to Harrison’s comments, despite the flak he received from the media.
“So many people crushed Nico for the reasons that he gave,” Green said on The Draymond Green Show. “When Nico gave those reasons, everybody said he’s ridiculous, he’s crazy. Now, when I turn on the tv all I see is media who crushed Nico, which essentially aided in him getting fired, regurgitating the same things that Nico Harrison was saying.”
Draymond Green calls out the media for having a double standard with Nico Harrison for trading Luka because he didn’t believe in some of his habits
“So many people crushed Nico for the reasons that he gave. When Nico gave those reasons everybody said he’s ridiculous, he’s… pic.twitter.com/IM5N9q9iyW
— NBA Courtside (@NBA__Courtside) February 27, 2026
Is Doncic deserving of criticism? Maybe so, but Green isn’t a fan of the media picking and choosing when a certain matter deserves criticism.
“What I struggle with is the wishy-washiness through media. I struggle with that because it’s these double standards that I just can’t rock with,” Green added, talking about how Harrison was crucified for the Luca trade.
Unfortunately, Harrison won’t receive an apology from the media since that’s just the nature of the industry. Regardless, Green hopes that there’s a shift in the way the media treats players and team members going forward.
