Browsing: Harrison

There are few positions in the NBA more awkward than the one Anthony Davis currently occupies for the Dallas Mavericks.

This time last year, the big man was LeBron James’ co-star on the Los Angeles Lakers and likely ready to ride out the remainder of his career in Southern California. Now, he’s a symbol of the worst trade in the history of the NBA and facing a potential trade/salary dump as the Mavericks cut their losses.

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Davis never asked to be in this position and remains a good basketball player when healthy. Still, what are you supposed to say when the guy who staked his credibility on you being a championship-level player is fired less than a year later?

We found out Wednesday when Davis spoke to the media for the first time since Dallas unceremoniously fired general manager Nico Harrison. His reaction, via Mike Curtis of the Dallas Morning News:

“It was surprising more than anything. Nicoâ€s my guy. He played a huge part in getting me here and wanting me to fulfill his vision, in a sense, that he saw. It was definitely tough. Me and him had a conversation. Me and [Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont] had a conversation. Itâ€s the business of basketball, you know what I’m saying. I hate those conversations.”

Anthony Davis appears to be a lame duck in Dallas after the firing of Nico Harrison. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

(Stacy Revere via Getty Images)

Davis hasn’t played since Oct. 29 due to a calf injury, which is part of the reason why the Mavericks are 5-14 and second-to-last in the Western Conference. His return has loomed for weeks and he’s currently listed as questionable for Dallas’ game against, funnily enough, the Lakers on Friday.

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Trade rumors have swirled around Davis in the meantime, as the Mavericks have been reported to be focusing on 2025 first overall pick Cooper Flagg as their long-term centerpiece. With Flagg only 18 years old and having plenty of development ahead of him, that would suggest the 32-year-old Davis can be better used elsewhere.

However, Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban, who once again has the ear of Dumont, shot down the idea recently.

Asked about the trade rumors Wednesday, Davis shrugged them off as something he can’t control:

“I have no control of that. … Man, look. Y’all make it like weâ€re going to war or something. This is basketball. It comes with it. I think everybody in their careers has been involved in trade talks or been traded. That doesnâ€t affect me. Iâ€ve been in trade talks for a while. My job is to do what I do when Iâ€m on the floor, play basketball and try to lead this team. Whatever comes out of that, comes out of that.â€

We’ll see how long that uncertainty lasts with the NBA trade deadline scheduled for Feb. 6. It was reported earlier Wednesday that Davis will be seeking a contract extension if he indeed gets traded.

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After weeks of speculation, the Pittsburgh Penguins finally exercised a beneficial loophole for one of their top prospects.

On Monday, the Penguins announced that 19-year-old defenseman Harrison Brunicke – who made the NHL club out of training camp but has not played an NHL game in three weeks – was loaned to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) Penguins of the AHL for conditioning. Defenseman Jack St. Ivany – who has been on injured reserve since training camp with a lower-body injury – was also sent to WBS on a conditioning loan.

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The 6-foot-3, 203-pound Brunicke has played in nine NHL games this season, which means his entry-level contract – unlike rookie forward Ben Kindel’s – has not yet been activated. After scoring his first NHL goal against the New York Islanders during the second game of the season, the teenage right defenseman, at times, struggled to adapt to reads at NHL speed.

Although 18- and 19-year-old CHL-eligible forwards cannot play in the AHL per the current CHL-NHL agreement, the proper conditions were met for this loophole to be exercised. Since Brunicke was a healthy scratch in five or more consecutive NHL games, he became eligible for an AHL conditioning stint that can extend up to either five games or 14 days – whichever happens first.

The WBS next play Wednesday when they face the Hershey Bears, and they will have a back-to-back slate this weekend against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms – the team that eliminated them in the first round of the playoffs last season – and again against Hershey. They have the same exact slate next weekend, which would mark the five-game (potentially) and 12-day mark for Brunicke.

‘We Always Want Him To Know What The Plan Is’: Dubas Provides Update On Brunicke Situation

‘We Always Want Him To Know What The Plan Is’: Dubas Provides Update On Brunicke Situation Pittsburgh Penguins’ general manager and president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas elaborates on the plan for 19-year-old defenseman Harrison Brunicke, who is now eligible for an AHL conditioning loan.

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Brunicke must be returned from his conditioning stint by Dec. 8, and that falls four days before Team Canada begins its World Junior Camp – which Brunicke is eligible to be loaned to.

St. Ivany, 26, has been up and down between the AHL and NHL over the last couple of seasons. He spent 19 games with Pittsburgh last season and registered one point to go along with a minus-3, while he put up a goal and 16 points in 37 games with WBS as well as a plus-9.

It’s Time For Penguins To Pull Trigger On Youth Talent

<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins/players/it-s-time-for-penguins-to-pull-trigger-on-youth-talent" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:It's Time For Penguins To Pull Trigger On Youth Talent With a 2-1 overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken on Saturday, the Pittsburgh Penguins officially fell out of a playoff position for the first time in the 2025-26 season. ;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas” class=”link “> It’s Time For Penguins To Pull Trigger On Youth Talent With a 2-1 overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken on Saturday, the Pittsburgh Penguins officially fell out of a playoff position for the first time in the 2025-26 season.

Bookmark THN – Pittsburgh Penguins on your Google News tab to follow the latest Penguins news, roster moves, player features, and more!

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  Tim MacMahonNov 19, 2025, 07:00 AM ET

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  • Joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009
  • Covers the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Mavericks
  • Appears regularly on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM

THE DALLAS MAVERICKS, mired in the misery of a four-game losing streak amid the chaos that had overwhelmed the franchise for the past nine months, sat on the tarmac at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C.

It was bad enough that the Mavs had been blown out hours earlier in Memphis in a matchup between two teams in early-season tailspins. Now, the buses scheduled to transport the traveling party to the hotel were delayed by red tape.

After almost an hour, the first of the team’s two buses arrived. Weary players boarded for the ride to the Four Seasons in Georgetown, arriving after 3 a.m. ET. They expected some good news the next day, which All-Star big man Anthony Davis and his personal medical team — as well as former general manager Nico Harrison — had targeted as his return date from a low-grade left calf strain.

Those plans changed the next afternoon, hours before tipoff against the Washington Wizards, when Mavs governor Patrick Dumont stepped in at the last minute to put Davis’ return on hold, according to team sources.

Dumont acted on the advice of Mavs director of health and performance Johann Bilsborough, who had thrown up a late caution flag, concerned that Davis was at risk of aggravating the calf strain or sustaining a related catastrophic injury.

This marked the first time Dumont had directly involved himself in the Mavs’ daily basketball operations since acquiring a majority stake in the team in December 2023.

It was also the most public and direct indication that the trust he had developed in Harrison, which was so strong last season that Dumont signed off on the most controversial trade in NBA history without seeking any other opinions, had completely disintegrated.

Davis’ availability at the time was considered day-to-day. That description also applied to Harrison’s job security.

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Three days later, Dumont fired Harrison.

It was the culmination of the most tumultuous era in Mavericks history, fueled by competing egos, a controversial team sale, the trade of the most dynamic star in franchise history and a quiet but simmering power struggle between a former owner and the general manager he had hired.

In the aftermath, Dumont and his new basketball cabinet, which once again includes former majority owner Mark Cuban, are plotting to pivot to the future with 18-year-old Cooper Flagg, the No. 1 pick delivered to Dallas by unprecedented lottery luck, gifting the new ownership group a second chance to build a sustainable contender around a generational talent.

Multiple team sources said the Mavs, who are 4-11 and outside the playoff picture in the West, will also explore the trade market for Davis, the 10-time All-Star big man who was the headliner in the return of the Luka Doncic deal, as part of that process before this season’s deadline.

For a fan base that still feels betrayed, so many questions linger in the wake of this self-inflicted saga, many of which center around the famous former majority owner.

Why wasn’t Cuban given any more input than any other season-ticket holder in a franchise-rattling decision? And how much power will Cuban have moving forward as the Mavs try to get the franchise back on track?

Discussions with more than a dozen sources inside the organization reveal that two of the franchise’s most powerful men, Cuban and Harrison, were vying for influence and the ear of the new, inexperienced owner Dumont: one man determined to prove his basketball acumen after finally being given freedom to run a team, the other desperate to get back in the game.

On the morning of Nov. 11, that simmering power struggle finally bubbled to a boil — and everyone was burned.

Said one team source: “Mark’s been trying a palace coup for months.”

Mark Cuban, Anthony Davis, Cooper Flagg, Kyrie Irving, Nico Harrison & Luka DonÄić ESPN

A HORDE OF reporters and television cameramen waited patiently for Cuban to wrap up his 3-point shooting routine on the American Airlines Center court, a pregame routine of his that was one of the perks of running the Mavericks.

This was the evening of Dec. 27, 2023, hours after the NBA had officially approved the sale of the franchise’s majority share to the Adelson and Dumont families at a $3.5 billion valuation, more than a dozen times what Cuban had paid 23 years earlier. Cuban, still dripping with sweat and wearing shorts and a team-issued sleeveless T-shirt, was more than happy to discuss what he claimed were unique details of the deal.

“Nothing’s really changed except my bank account,” Cuban boasted to the media, crowded around him in a three-deep circle.

Cuban explained how the new owners, whose 11-figure wealth was built running the Las Vegas Sands casino corporation, would focus on the franchise’s business interests, including eventually building a new arena as part of what would hopefully be Dallas’ version of a Venetian-style resort.

Cuban, he said, had been relieved of the financial stress of funding an NBA contender as a mere “middle-class billionaire,” and he proudly proclaimed he would continue to control the Mavs’ basketball operations as part of the partnership in which he maintained a 27% ownership stake.

There wasn’t any specific language regarding that authority in the official purchase agreement, Cuban acknowledged, but he was adamant that the plan was for him to continue to be the boss of all the Mavs’ basketball matters even though Dumont would officially have “final say” as the franchise’s governor.

“That’s Cuban overselling himself because he always has a microphone in front of him,” one team source told ESPN.

Minutes later, after divulging the intricacies of the deal, Cuban gathered the team’s players, coaching staff and front office personnel in the locker room to deliver a similar message.

“Nothing’s going to change,” Cuban told them hours before they faced the Cleveland Cavaliers. “I’m still running basketball.”

In the room, the news didn’t land the way Cuban had intended.

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Multiple sources found Cuban’s comments to be disrespectful toward Harrison, who was in his third season as the Mavs’ president of basketball operations and GM following a lengthy tenure as a Nike executive.

Across the organization, it was common knowledge that Harrison’s freedom to function in those roles had ebbed and flowed based on when Cuban decided to grab the wheel. Now, in front of players and staff, Cuban had just dismissively minimized the power of the GM he had hired nearly three years prior.

For many people in the room, however, the prevailing takeaway from the meeting left them perplexed: Why in the world would people pay billions of dollars to buy the franchise but allow Cuban to run it?

Days later, Dumont made his first visit to Dallas since the sale. He held separate meetings with the franchise’s business staff, basketball operations department and players.

In the latter two sessions, he was asked directly about Cuban’s claim of maintaining basketball authority. Dumont’s answer contradicted his new business partner.

“Mark is a friend. I will consult him from time to time,” Dumont said, according to multiple people in the basketball operations meeting. “But make no mistake about this: I’m the governor of the team and I am making decisions.”

The directive from Dumont was a relief to many, including Harrison and coach Jason Kidd, who were often frustrated by what they perceived as Cuban’s frequently unproductive meddling in personnel decisions, sources inside the organization said.

It also created a power vacuum that Harrison pounced to fill.

And he did so, with aplomb.

A trip to the Finals that season, aided by a pair of trade-deadline deals that paid immediate dividends, provided Dumont enough evidence to put faith in Harrison’s basketball brilliance.Former general manager Nico Harrison and coach Jason Kidd were among those in the Mavs organization who often felt frustrated by what they perceived as Cuban’s unproductive meddling in personnel decisions, sources inside the organization told ESPN. Jerome Miron/Imagn Images

TWO WEEKS LATER, before Game 4 of the NBA Finals, Dumont conducted the only news conference he has held since the ownership transfer. He was flanked by Harrison and then-Mavs CEO Cynt Marshall.

“Normally when teams change ownership, they bring their own people in,” Harrison said. “Patrick and the Adelson family, they’ve adopted me as their own, so I really appreciate that. One of the things about Patrick and I, our conversations, we talk about leadership. We talk about investing in the community. We talk about culture. It’s all the things that I believe in. It reminds me of my old days at Nike.

“I guess that’s his corporate background.”

He turned his head toward Dumont. Their eyes locked as big smiles broke out on their faces.

“Sounds great,” Dumont said, grinning from ear to ear.

Unlike his predecessor, Dumont doesn’t bask in the glare of the public spotlight. Cuban soaked up the fame that came with NBA ownership, parlaying his image as a bombastic businessman into a long-running role on ABC’s Shark Tank that elevated his celebrity far beyond the sports world. By stark contrast, a Google search produced only one photograph of Dumont when news broke of the Mavs’ sale.

The corporate world is the comfort zone for Dumont, who received an MBA from Columbia Business School before beginning his career in investment banking more than a quarter century ago. He has climbed the corporate ladder since joining Las Vegas Sands following his 2009 marriage to Sivan Ochshorn, the daughter of the corporation’s owners Miriam and (since deceased) Sheldon Adelson, becoming the president and chief operating officer in 2021.

Harrison, who rose from field representative to vice president of North American basketball operations during his two decades at Nike, prioritized developing a relationship with Dumont after the franchise was purchased. Harrison connected with his new boss by speaking a corporate language of sorts, emphasizing the importance of establishing a clear chain of command by reporting directly to Dumont instead of through Cuban, which he had done for the previous two seasons. Harrison and Cuban both declined to comment for this story.

“Nico basically said, ‘Dude, I don’t want to deal with Mark anymore. He’s too much,'” one team source said.

With a new direct line to his boss, and his former one out of the picture, Harrison accelerated the ice-out.

Harrison had once told Cuban that he was nicknamed “The Silent Assassin” at Nike because of his ability to quietly maneuver to get his way in business matters. Suddenly, Cuban believed that he was in Harrison’s crosshairs.

“Immediately after the sale, Nico started really playing Dumont,” another team source said. “He honed in. Then we went to the Finals, and Nico could do no wrong.”

Cuban blamed Harrison, not Dumont, for his basketball exile, according to sources familiar with the dynamic.

As Harrison’s power rose, Cuban privately claimed that the league office required the parties to remove a clause in the purchase agreement that ensured him the right to be invited and attend all basketball operations meetings, sources said. That clause, however, made no mention of Cuban having any authority over basketball operations.

In Cuban’s mind, according to a source, he would have maintained control essentially because he would have been the smartest, most experienced man in the room.

“That’s the most obvious instance of having my cake and eating it, too,” a source involved in the process said. “How long have you known Mark Cuban? Did that seem out of character?”

As far as Cuban was concerned, according to sources familiar with his thinking, Harrison wasn’t qualified to be the primary decision-maker for the team’s basketball operations, despite hiring him in June 2021 to be the team’s GM after the contentious firing of longtime Mavs president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson.

Even so, Cuban privately insisted that he never intended to give Harrison autonomy and hired him with the hopes that his relationships with players and agents would help the Mavs reverse their long-running trend of finishing as runners-up in free agency.

Cuban hired former Utah Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey as a senior advisor in summer 2023 — a move suggested by Doncic’s agent Bill Duffy and business manager Lara Beth Seager — to help mask Harrison’s perceived shortcomings as an inexperienced NBA executive.

Harrison blamed Cuban for what he believed were the Mavs’ biggest personnel mistakes during his tenure, which came in summer 2022: allowing Jalen Brunson to get away in free agency and trading for Christian Wood, a player Kidd didn’t want to coach and resented having on the roster. Several members of the coaching staff and front office also faulted Cuban for those moves.

Harrison was adamant in talks with Dumont that the basketball operations department would function much better without Cuban’s constant interference, sources said. Dumont believed he had proof of concept after the Mavs’ 2023-24 season took off following trade-deadline deals to acquire Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington, albeit only after the Washington Wizards allowed Kyle Kuzma to veto a deal in which Dallas would have given up a pair of first-round picks for him, forcing the Mavericks to pivot to other targets.

Dallas was 28-23 and in eighth place in the West — two games out of fifth — when Harrison’s new additions joined the team. The Mavs had the league’s best record (16-4) and top-ranked defense in the final 20 games of the regular season before their run through the West as a No. 5 seed.

That was all the ammunition Harrison needed to convince Dumont of his prowess as a personnel decision-maker.

“Nico did a hell of a sales job,” a Mavs official said. “He took credit for everything that was done. When Patrick asked questions — asked how we got Kyrie, how the draft happened, etc. — [Harrison] said he was the guy. We got on a roll and went to the Finals. Fool’s gold.”

Dumont would occasionally ask Harrison to “keep Mark in the fold” regarding personnel discussions and decisions, sources said. Harrison would agree to do so before blowing it off. The contact at this point between Cuban and Dumont was minimal, given the team’s success. Cuban and Harrison rarely spoke to each other.

“Nico built the moat and put up the fence and said, ‘I got this!'” one source familiar with the dynamic between Harrison and Dumont said. “Clearly, that was the wrong strategy.”

Harrison increasingly isolated himself, his direct line to Dumont a source of power. Sources throughout the franchise believed Harrison would tell Dumont what he wanted his boss to know, not necessarily everything that Dumont needed to know, especially as an NBA newcomer.

“The one guy in basketball ops who had a pipeline to Dumont wasn’t giving him the straight scoop,” one of the team sources said.

That’s how Harrison positioned himself to persuade Dumont to sign off on the Doncic trade, a deal considered illogical by rival executives for a variety of reasons, from parting with a perennial MVP contender in his prime without any threat of a trade demand, to receiving what was widely perceived to be poor value in return.

Harrison built his case from a business perspective. Doncic would be eligible to sign a five-year, $345 million supermax contract extension in the summer. That deal would be an awful investment, Harrison told Dumont, pointing to Doncic’s conditioning concerns, poor off-court habits and recurring calf strains, predicting that his body would break down.

Doncic’s camp and Harrison had several disagreements regarding the recovery process from the calf strain that sidelined the superstar at the time, which the GM portrayed to Dumont as proof that Doncic was not fully committed to the Mavs.

Harrison also blamed the Mavs’ five-game elimination to the Boston Celtics in the Finals on Doncic’s defensive struggles. He pitched Dumont on his vision of building the league’s best defense around Davis, who Harrison had been close with since Davis was a teen playing on the AAU circuit.

“Defense wins championships,” Harrison said repeatedly in his few attempts to publicly explain the logic of the trade.

Harrison also convinced Dumont that the trade discussions had to be contained, minimizing the risk of it leaking to the media, which could have resulted in Duffy, Doncic’s agent, using his leverage to kill the deal. Looping in Cuban would have likely led to a leak, Harrison told Dumont.

No one else knew. No one else had to know. Dumont bought it, and that was all that mattered.

“‘In Nico we trust’ — too much at the end of the day,” a source said, referencing an infamous line from Dumont’s interview with The Dallas Morning News days after the trade. “That quote has come back to haunt [Dumont].”Dallas Mavericks fans gathered outside American Airlines Center in the days following the Luka Doncic trade to criticize general manager Nico Harrison for making the deal. Jerome Miron/Imagn Images

DURING HALFTIME OF the Mavs’ Nov. 10 game against the Milwaukee Bucks, the night before Harrison was fired, Dumont had welcomed an 18-year-old man wearing a gold Doncic Lakers jersey to sit next to him for several minutes. Nicholas Dickason approached Dumont at the urging of his father, he told The Athletic, to apologize for flipping him off during the season-opening loss to the San Antonio Spurs, the only previous game the governor had attended this regular season. During their cordial conversation, Dumont expressed remorse for the Doncic deal, Dickason said.

After the game, a surreal loss at home that featured the team blowing a 13-point fourth-quarter lead and deafening “Fire Nico!” chants during Mavericks free throws, Cuban made a beeline from his usual seat by the home bench to meet Dumont by his seat near midcourt on the other side of the American Airlines Center floor.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the court, Harrison stepped down the portable stairs by his seat and into the tunnel, the bitter power struggle that for years had gripped the Mavericks shifting in real time.

Harrison, who received death threats after the Doncic trade, never returned to his previous usual seat among the four reserved for Mavs’ front office officials in the lower bowl opposite the team’s bench. He stood in that midcourt tunnel during games the rest of last season, accompanied by security. He had those stairs rolled in before every game this season, allowing him to access and exit his new seat a few rows behind the home broadcast table without crossing paths with fans.

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A few months after the trade that would ultimately doom his Mavericks tenure, Harrison and the team lucked into the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft. It was then, multiple team sources said, that Cuban’s push to fire Harrison accelerated.

Harrison then managed to further enrage the fan base after the team drafted the consensus No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg in late June.

“Fortune favors the bold,” Harrison said, a wink at a fan base not ready or willing to receive it. Weeks earlier, amid city-wide backlash that threatened the future viability of the franchise, Dumont had urged Harrison to undergo media training, hoping to create a message that would ease some of the self-inflicted wounds.

The lessons apparently didn’t land.

A couple of days later, at Flagg’s introductory news conference, Harrison said that he hoped fans were “starting to see my vision,” angering the fans even more at a time when the luck of landing Flagg and the excitement of a future with him should’ve been celebrated.

Four months later, with the Mavs floundering in 14th place in the West amid predictable struggles and the fans’ angst weighing heavily on the players, Dumont had seen enough.

The dynamic between Dumont and Cuban never became contentious, sources on both sides said. They had known each other for years, forming a friendship that served as the foundation of the franchise sale negotiations. Those same sources said Cuban reinforced his credibility with Dumont with criticism of Harrison’s roster construction over the summer that quickly proved to be painfully accurate.

Cuban had warned Dumont that Dallas would have a dreadful offense due to a lack of off-dribble creators and shooting. Harrison downplayed those concerns. The Mavs rank second to last in the league in offense.

“I understand the profound impact these difficult last several months have had,” Dumont wrote in a letter to the fans released that afternoon, vaguely referencing the Doncic trade in his only public comments this season. “Please know that I’m fully committed to the success of the Mavericks. Thank you for your support, thank you for holding us accountable, and thank you for your passion and for your patience. You deserve transparency and a team that reflects your spirit.”

Cuban has strongly suggested replacing Harrison with Lindsey, now the second-ranking member of the East-leading Detroit Pistons’ front office, sources said. Lindsey is likely to be considered during a comprehensive search process that will include external and internal candidates, but for the time being, Dumont has opted for a “GM by committee” approach.

That committee, which could still be in place through this season’s trade deadline, met with Dumont to discuss potential strategic scenarios on the afternoon of Harrison’s firing.

Assistant general managers Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi, recently promoted to interim co-GMs, were in the room. So was Kidd, who has as much influence as anyone in the organization after signing a contract extension during the preseason. Cuban was there, too, an indication of his return to the franchise’s inner circle.

Cuban is giddy to be part of the small group that Dumont is relying on to educate him about NBA business and guide him through a turbulent time.

“He’s walking around on air right now,” a team source said. “Cuban’s floating in his Skechers.”

But Cuban isn’t returning to his shot-caller status within the Mavs. Nor will he ever. As one source put it, Cuban sold that right.

“He’s a consultant, not a decision-maker,” another source said. “But he’s at the table.”

Still, nobody knows how long he’ll stay there — or how far his influence will reach.

Those decisions, according to a source briefed by Dumont, will be made by the person replacing the man he just fired.

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The Dallas Mavericks have a very intriguing opening in their front office after firing general manager Nico Harrison, and former Golden State Warriors general manager Bob Myers is the most decorated executive available.

That doesn’t mean the two parties are bound for one another, however.

According to NBA reporter Marc Stein, “Myers is not a candidate for the front office opening in Dallas created by Harrison’s departure and is not even available to serve as a consultant to other teams after his recent departure from ESPN to take a new position as president of sports for Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, which owns the NFL’s Washington Commanders, Crystal Palace of the Premier League and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils in addition to the Philadelphia 76ers.”

It’s easy to understand why Myers would be linked to the Mavs, however. Alongside his pedigree, Stein reported that Myers is “close with new Mavericks CEO Rick Welts after their years together in Golden State and will indeed be asked for suggestions and input on next steps given the Myers/Welts friendship.”

Myers, 50, spent 12 seasons with the Warriors in their front office and helped construct rosters that won four titles. He was named the NBA Executive of the Year in 2015 and 2017 and stepped away from the organization in 2023.

Harrison, 52, became a target of criticism for Mavericks fans after trading superstar Luka DonÄić last season. That created a negative vibe around the team that stretched into this season, to the point that a divorce seemed inevitable. His replacement will be tasked with either building a championship contender around rookie Cooper Flagg and veteran stars Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving, or rebuilding for the future around Flagg and trading Davis and Irving.

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Dallas Mavericks star forward Anthony Davis will miss another 7-10 days at the least as he continues to recover from a left calf strain.

Davis sat out his ninth consecutive game Sunday night as the Mavericks faced off against the Portland Trail Blazers. The 10-time All-Star is being held out as a precautionary measure mandated by team owner/governor Patrick Dumont until he has medical data confirming that Davis is not at risk of re-injury.

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“He wants to be out there to help us,” Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd said. “But this gives him seven to 10 days to get better or to get stronger. Hopefully, in seven to 10 days, he’s back on the floor.”

The five-time All-NBA and All-Defensive selection hasn’t been in the Mavericks’ lineup since Oct. 29, when he played just under seven minutes and scored four points in a win over Indiana, 107-105. Davis was aiming for a return date of Nov. 8 until that idea was overruled by Dumont.

Dallas†director of health urged a cautious approach to clearing Davis regardless of what his personal medical staff advises. Davis†personal medical staff was added to the Mavericks†payroll this season. The primary concern regarding the injury is Davis potentially rupturing his Achilles tendon if he returns too soon.

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Indiana witnessed this first-hand in the NBA Finals in June, when star guard Tyrese Haliburton played on a calf strain that eventually led to a ruptured Achilles in Game 7 of the series. Davis has played in just 14 games (plus a couple of play-in appearances) since being traded from Los Angeles to Dallas as part of the Luka DonÄić deal last season. That trade was, of course, the catalyst in the recent firing of former Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison.

On Sunday night, Dallas won its first game since parting ways with Harrison, beating the Blazers 138-133 in overtime. Seven Mavs scored in double figures, including rookie Cooper Flagg and P.J. Washington who each led Dallas (4-10) with 21 points.

After the trade from Los Angeles, Davis ended up returning too soon and suffered an adductor strain in a home game against the Houston Rockets. That injury caused him to miss an additional six weeks of action. Dumont is looking to avoid any further setbacks for his 32-year-old star.

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In five games this season, Davis has averaged a double double posting 20.8 points and 10.2 rebounds while shooting 52% from the field.

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When Dirk Nowitzki speaks about the Dallas Mavericks, his voice is heard. The franchise legend and Hall of Famer had a lot to say Friday night at the desk of “NBA on Prime” after he was asked about the firing of much-maligned Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison.

Nowitzki went on for more than two minutes, calling out Harrison’s shocking trade of Luka DonÄić, which Nowitzki said “made no sense” and “definitely set the franchise back” while also explaining how the timing of Harrison’s dismissal is unfortunate because of “this black cloud” that now hovers over the Mavericks at the beginning of 2025 No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg’s NBA career.

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“This move should have probably happened this summer, honestly,” said Nowitzki, who won a championship and NBA Finals MVP with the Mavericks in 2011.

“I didn’t want this negative energy and this black cloud over the Cooper Flagg era, but here we are now.”

At the time of Harrison’s head-scratching February deal that sent a then-25-year-old DonÄić to the Los Angeles Lakers, Nowitzki was working for the Mavericks in an ambassador and advisor capacity. Even so, Nowitzki accepted an invitation from DonÄić, his former teammate and fellow international icon, to attend the five-time All-NBA first teamer’s first game in Los Angeles.

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While DonÄić started a new chapter in purple and gold, the Mavs were more blue than ever. Harrison’s crown jewel of the trade, 10-time All-Star big man Anthony Davis, immediately suffered an adductor strain related to the abdominal injury he hurried back from, costing him six weeks right from the jump. Then nine-time All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving tore an ACL. The injury-riddled Mavericks made the play-in tournament but not the playoffs, and the resentment toward Harrison only grew.

[Get more Mavericks news: Dallas team feed]

Nowitzki said Friday he wasn’t surprised Dallas didn’t “just get over it.”

“I just knew,” he said. “I figured this fan base is a passionate and loyal fan base. I was lucky enough to experience it for 21 years. … They’re extremely passionate.”

Nowitzki continued: “And this trade just made no sense. It made no sense to [the fans]. And, really, there was no explanation for it, either. You go to the [NBA] Finals the year before. You gave up all these assets to build, really, the team around Luka with some 6-9 wings that all can switch and guard. You had two lob threats with [Daniel] Gafford and [Dereck] Lively, and the team was built around [Luka]. You added Klay [Thompson when] the shooting was a little bit of an issue in the Finals against Boston. So you did all this. … Going into [the] Christmas Day game, they were 14-3 out of the last 17 games, so they’re just starting to hit their stride, and then Luka gets hurt. And unfortunately that’s the last game he’s ever played in a Mavs uniform.

“It was very sad. It was very sad how that ended, and it felt like … the fans feel like they got robbed of actually seeing the end, seeing this through, seeing Luka develop into hopefully a champion one day. And it feels like they never got to see the end to this. So this was very heartbreaking.”

Right up until Harrison was fired Tuesday, “Fire Nico!” chants echoed throughout the American Airlines Center at Mavericks home games.

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Head coach Jason Kidd said before Wednesday’s game, the now-3-9 Mavs’ first at home since Harrison was canned, that those chants made his players feel “really disrespected.”

Kidd acknowledged the fans’ healing process yet emphasized it was time to turn the page. Nowitzki agrees.

“Now I think it’s time to move on,” he said Friday on “NBA on Prime.”

“It’s time to move on now, focus on this team, on this franchise. This definitely set the franchise back. But now it’s about building it back up, and obviously this team is struggling a bit. It needs the support, all it can get. So hopefully we can have a good year here from now on and cheer the team up.”

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  Dave McMenaminNov 13, 2025, 02:34 AM ET

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  • Lakers and NBA reporter for ESPN.
  • Covered the Lakers and NBA for ESPNLosAngeles.com from 2009-14, the Cavaliers from 2014-18 for ESPN.com and the NBA for NBA.com from 2005-09.

OKLAHOMA CITY — After one of the most lopsided defeats of his career, Lakers star Luka Doncic was asked to comment on the orchestrator of what many consider to be one of the most lopsided trades in NBA history, the deal that sent him to Los Angeles from the Dallas Mavericks.

Nico Harrison, Dallas’ president of basketball operations and general manager who first approached Lakers president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka with the trade idea in January, was fired by Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont on Tuesday. Following the Lakers’ 121-92 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night, Doncic was asked for his reaction to the dismissal.

“The city of Dallas, the fans, the players, they’ll always have a special place in my heart,” Doncic said. “I thought I was going to stay there forever, but I didn’t. So that will always be a special place for me. I will always call it home. But right now, I’m focused on the Lakers and trying to move on. But obviously, always there will be a part of me there.

“But just trying to move on and focus on what I’m doing here.”

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Asked whether he could ever envision returning to play for the Mavericks now that Harrison no longer works for the organization, Doncic replied, “Right now, I’m just focused on the Lakers. No further comments.”

Harrison shocked the basketball world in February when he traded Doncic to the Lakers in a deal centered around Anthony Davis, Max Christie and Los Angeles’ 2029 first-round pick.

Maxi Kleber, who was included by the Mavericks to make the salaries line up, also was asked for his reaction to the Harrison news after the Lakers’ morning shootaround session.

“It’s a fast business, man,” Kleber said. “Players, GMs, coaches, everybody. So always got to be ready for the next move.”

Doncic, who was acquired by the Mavericks in a 2018 draft night trade with the Atlanta Hawks, went on to become Rookie of the Year and was a five-time All-Star, five-time All-NBA selection, one-time scoring champion and the 2024 Western Conference finals MVP — all by the age of 25 — with his former team.

He had been off to an electric start for Los Angeles this season — averaging 37.1 points, 9.4 rebounds and 9.1 assists through his first seven games — before struggling mightily against the defending champion Thunder.

Doncic finished with a season-low 19 points on 7-for-20 shooting (1-for-7 on 3-pointers), 7 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 turnovers. The Lakers were outscored by 31 points in the 33 minutes Doncic was on the court, and their 32-point deficit at the break was the most Doncic has ever trailed at the half in his eight-year career.

“Definitely wasn’t our best game,” Doncic said. “Probably one of the worst this season, but they did a great job. I think they all did a great job on me. They’re champions for a reason, so they showed that today. I think we need to be more ready. Obviously, it starts with me. I need to be way better than that and just got to figure [it] out.”

Oklahoma City improved to a league-best 12-1. The Lakers, 1-2 on their five-game road trip that ends with a back-to-back in New Orleans and Milwaukee, are No. 5 in the West with an 8-4 record.

“It’s not concerning,” Doncic said when asked about the substantial gap between the two teams to start the season. “I think it’s more of a big motivation. … They were the champions for a reason, and it’s a big motivation. They started the year even better [than last season], I think so. It’s a big motivation to see how they play and try to stop them.”

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Luka DonÄić didn’t really want to get into his old general manager.

The Los Angeles Lakers star, fresh off a blowout 121-92 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night, was asked about the Dallas Mavericks’ move to fire general manager Nico Harrison — the same man that traded him to the Lakers ahead of the deadline last season.

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“I thought I was going to stay there forever, but I didn’t,” DonÄić said. “That’ll always be a special place for me, always I can call it home. But right now I’m focused on the Lakers, trying to move on.”

The Mavericks officially fired Harrison on Tuesday, roughly nine months after he dealt DonÄić to the Lakers in a deal that absolutely rocked the Mavericks fan base. Harrison simply couldnâ€t win them back over, even after picking up Cooper Flagg with the No. 1 overall pick in the draft earlier this summer, and fans even pelted him with “Fire Nico!†chants on Monday night while the Mavericks were in position to beat the Milwaukee Bucks. That has been a constant rallying cry for Mavericks fans ever since the DonÄić trade, and it finally became too much for the teamâ€s ownership group to deal with.

DonÄić was also stunned that night in February. He said later that he threw his phone after hanging up the call.

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“Sadness, mostly,†DonÄić said in April, reflecting back on how he felt in that moment. “I was still in shock, like, crazy shock. I felt my heart was broken, honestly.â€

Though the trade left the Mavericks organization in turmoil, DonÄić picked up right where he left off in Los Angeles. He averaged 28.2 points, 8.1 rebounds and 7.5 assists in 28 games with the team last season and helped them reach the playoffs for a third straight year.

He entered Wednesdayâ€s game averaging 37.1 points, 9.4 rebounds and 9.1 assists per game, too. DonÄić put up 43 points in their season-opener, dropped 49 points in their first win of the season and had a triple-double in a win over the Miami Heat earlier this month. Though he missed a little time with minor finger and lag injuries, DonÄić has been just as dominant as heâ€s been throughout his NBA career already this fall.

Asked directly if he could ever see himself playing for the Mavericks organization again in the future, especially now that Harrison is gone, DonÄić didn’t answer.

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“Right now I’m just focused on the Lakers,” he said. “No further comments.”

DonÄić, clearly, is just trying to move forward with his career. Now, with Harrison out of the organization, Mavericks fans might be able to start to do the same.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder roll over Lakers

Though the Lakers held on in the opening minutes on Wednesday night, they didnâ€t stand much of a chance. The Thunder rattled off a 16-2 run midway through the first quarter to grab a 12-point lead at the first break, and then they doubled up the Lakers in the second quarter to take a 32-point lead into the locker room at halftime.

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Reigning league MVP Shai Gilgerous-Alexander had 18 points in the first half alone while shooting 6-of-10 from the field. DonÄić, meanwhile, was the only Lakers player to hit double figures in the first 24 minutes. He had 11 points after shooting 4-of-13 from the field. They went just 3-of-13 from the 3-point line as a group, too.

From there, the Lakers never recovered. The Thunder pushed their lead by four points by the end of the third quarter, and then rolled to the 29-point blowout win. They now sit at 12-1 on the season, which is the best record in the league and easily the best record in the Western Conference. They are a perfect 6-0 at the Paycom Center, too.

DonÄić finished with 19 points and shot 7-of-20 from the field while making just a single 3-pointer. Austin Reaves added 13 points and five rebounds, and Dalton Knecht added 16 points off the bench. The Lakers, now 8-4 on the season, will take on the New Orleans Pelicans next on Friday night in the fourth game of a five-game road trip.

Gilgeous-Alexander ended up with 30 points in the win for Oklahoma City. He had nine assists and five rebounds, too. Ajay Mitchell finished with 14 points, and Isaiah Joe added 21 points off the bench late. The Thunder will travel to North Carolina next on Saturday to take on the Charlotte Hornets.

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The Dallas Mavericks and rookie Cooper Flagg dropped their first game after parting ways with general manager Nico Harrison, falling to the Phoenix Suns 123–114 at home on Wednesday.

The team announced Tuesday that Harrison had been relieved of his duties “effective immediately” after the Mavericks fell to 3–8 on the season.

The move followed heavy criticism of Harrison’s decision to trade Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in February. Doncic has since helped lead the Lakers to an 8–3 record, while Dallas continues to struggle despite boasting a talented roster and the No. 1 overall pick in Flagg.

Fans reacted strongly after the Mavericks dropped their first game following Harrison’s firing, expressing frustration over the team’s continued struggles despite the leadership change.

Flagg finished with 16 points, six rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocks, while Klay Thompson added 19 points on 37.5 percent shooting and three rebounds in the loss.

Phoenix’s Devin Booker led the charge with 26 points, nine assists and three rebounds to power the Suns to victory.

The Suns led the Mavericks 65-53 at halftime, paced by 16 points from Devin Booker and 13 from Dillon Brookes. Dallas’ Flagg and Brandon Williams each had seven points at the break, while Klay Thompson added nine.

Phoenix kept control in the fourth quarter, holding a 10-point lead and never letting up, closing out the game with a nine-point victory.

Dallas will host the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday.

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Nicholas Dickason is repping the Dallas Mavericks once again.

The Dallas Mavericks fan, who made headlines for the conversation he had with team governor Patrick Dumont while wearing a No. 77 Luka DonÄić Los Angeles Lakers jersey, was donning a Cooper Flagg jersey for the team’s Wednesday game against the Phoenix Suns at American Airlines Center.

He was also pleased with the team’s decision to fire former general manager Nico Harrison and said, “I’m a Mavs fan. And I’m glad Nico’s gone.”

Dickason was seen talking with Dumont in courtside seats during the Mavericks’ loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday. Christian Clark of The Athletic reported that the fan said Dumont expressed regret with the trade that sent DonÄić to the Lakers.

“Basically Patrick was like, he feels horrible for the trade. And wants to make it up to us,” Dickason said. “That’s basically what he said. He accepted my apology for it as well.”

Dickason might not be the only one happy the Mavericks fired Harrison.

NBA insiders Jake Fischer and Ian Begley reported some of the players preferred to play on the road because of the “Fire Nico” chants that echoed through American Airlines Center. ESPN’s Tim MacMahon reported “maintaining decent morale” had become difficult for players.

The trade sent DonÄić, who was the franchise cornerstone and a fan favorite in Dallas, to Los Angeles for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first-round pick. Davis has struggled to stay healthy since arriving with the Mavericks, and DonÄić has continued to thrive for the Purple and Gold.

In fact, he’s averaging 37.1 points per game this season alone for a Lakers team that is 8-3.

By comparison, Dallas is 3-8 and battling near the bottom of the Western Conference standings. But at least the players can take solace knowing Dickason is wearing the home team’s jersey after the Harrison move.

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