“He’s a Good Man”: Warriors Legend Sides With Nico Harrison, Claims Mavericks Ownership Pushed Him to Trade Luka Doncic

With the Mavericks being officially eliminated from playoff contention this year, their decision to trade Luka Doncic has been placed under a microscope yet again. On the latest episode of the Nightcap, Shannon Sharpe and Chad Johnson were joined by Warriors legend Mitch Richmond, who claimed that the trade may not have been masterminded by Nico Harrison.

Richmond claimed that, as the GM, Nico Harrison may have just taken the fall for the Mavs‘ front office’s decision, and said that if anything, he was taking the blame for the owners’ decision. Harrison’s misery was further compounded when Anthony Davis, the player who came to Dallas in return, went off injured on Friday night despite a 40-point performance.

As Davis walked off with the scoreline reading a miserable 103-88, the cameras panned to Harrison, who just looked on in despair. This was Davis’ second major injury in his two-and-a-half months in Dallas, and effectively dashed all hopes they may have had about a comeback.

Richmond instead credited Harrison for being a good man and praised him for taking all the blame for the decisions made by the owners and the front office.

“When you’re a GM, you have to take that hit. Because the owner is gonna put it on you, even though he’s making the decisions. When you make a big decision like trading Luka, you know you had to talk to someone and someone had to pull that trigger,” he told Unc and Ocho.

“I truly think it wasn’t just Nico. Nico had to take the hit and had to double down again, that it was my choice. I know he’s getting a lot of heat, but he’s a good man. Man, they are on him for this one.”

He implied that the decision to continually tarnish Luka’s image in the media may also have been a decision made by the owners, in order not to make their trade look as bad.

Nico Harrison, on the other hand, has claimed multiple times that he was the mind behind the trade and has repeatedly used “defense wins championships” as the main reason behind it. Luka’s defense is not a strong aspect of his game, and Davis is a near-perennial DPOY candidate.

Although the trade may really have been Harrison’s idea, Richmond believes there was an influence from the Adelsens and the Dumonts to make it happen.

Patrick Dumont on the Luka-AD trade: “about the future”

When Patrick Dumont, the Mavericks’ owner, spoke at an engagement last month, he claimed the trade was made in order to build a team that could compete both now and in the future. He believed that adding Davis in place of Luka would make the most competitive team possible, and cited the Mavs’ 2024 trade deadline deals as an example.

“For us going into the trade deadline last year, we were not competitive, if you recall, we were not a playoff-bound team, and we were able to do some things to reconstruct the roster and enable the team to become very competitive,” Dumont said.

“And after the trade deadline last year, we actually had the best record in basketball. Which was a big accomplishment, and we got to the championship games and we didn’t win, and so we had to decide: how do we get better?”

Soon after his words, reports from the Mavs’ camp emerged, claiming they were unhappy with Luka’s character and the culture that was developing around him as the main reasons for the trade.