“Owners Threw Him Under The Bus”: Charles Barkley Lambasts Patrick Dumont And Co For Scapegoating Nico Harrison

The 2024-2025 NBA season will be remembered for one massive moment: Luka Doncic getting traded from the Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers. Dallas GM Nico Harrison faced a ton of backlash for the move, especially from Dallas fans who chanted “Fire Nico” as often and as loudly as possible. Harrison tried to address some concerns at the team’s end-of-season press conference. It did not go well.

The 52-year-old is already getting memed for some of his answers at the press conference. “I knew Luka was important to the fan base — I didn’t quite know it to what level,” said Harrison regarding fan reaction to trading The Don. If that wasn’t bad enough, he also gave us the meme-worthy “I think I’ve done a good job here” response when asked why he shouldn’t lose his job.

Since the press conference, dropped media have been covering Nico’s answers like gospel. That now includes Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal. “His problem is he wants to be liked when he should just be focused on doing his job,” claimed The Diesel when assessing Nico’s answers. “As long as your owner has your back you should be fine.”

Shaq’s comment prompted Chuck to call out Mavs owner Patrick Dumont. “The owners threw him under the bus,” shouted the NBA legend. He added that Dumont and the other owners definitely were aware of the Luka trade and that. “He’s taking all the bullets, rightfully so, but don’t go on TV anymore man.” 

https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/1914457132033769477?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

It’s nice to see Chuck stand up for Nico, not because he deserves it, but because the Dumonts are the worst type of franchise owner. They know nothing about ball and were only interested in buying the team so they could add a casino to American Airlines Arena.

The only problem with that idea now is that the Dumonts are losing millions in revenue since Luka got dealt to Los Angeles. The financial hit, on top of growing fan distrust and anger, has left the team in a very weird position. Nico might have been the stooge who truly didn’t know what ripples the Doncic trade would have. But that makes the Dumonts the idiots pulling the strings.

About the author

Joseph Galizia

Joseph is a Las Vegas based actor and circus performer. For the last seven years he's had the pleasure of covering sports for multiple outlets, including the Lifestyles section of Sports Illustrated. In that time, he's conducted over 50 interviews with athletes, filmmakers, and company founders to further cement his footprint in the journalism world. He's excited to bring that skillset to the SportsRush, where he'll be covering the NBA news cycle.

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