The Dallas Mavericks and Luka Donsic seemed destined to be together for the next decade or more until Nico Harrison decided he was enough.
For longtime Dallas Mavericks fans, Luka Donsic has been a godsend. Just as franchise legend Dirk Nowitzki rounded out his storied career, Doncic won the Rookie of the Year in the final season of the legendary. He was building five All-NBA first teams in a row. This is more than the dark ever made in his career, and the franchise icon was willing to hand the torch to Donis.
Dallas accepted Don Sic, and Don Sic quickly hugged Dallas. He called himself the “real Texan,” wearing a cowboy hat, famously mentioned the horny toad, a Texas reptile, in 2023.
He appears to follow in Nowitzki’s footsteps, and in 2024 he returned Dallas to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2011. Fans were hoping the team would become the playoff staples of Don Sic’s other Primes, but Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison shocked the world.
It’s not often that a franchise gets someone who is expected to pass on the legend. Anthony Edwards may be stepping down as the Minnesota Timberwolves’ best player.
Luka was supposed to be that for the Dallas Mavericks, but Harrison and new owner Patrick Dumont didn’t see a long-term future with Donsic.
For years, “keeping Luka comfortable” was given priority in Dallas, but suddenly shifted later this offseason.
“If you want to identify the exact time that is no longer an organization’s top priority, you’ll need to go back when Mark Cuban sells the majority control of your team,” Tim McMahon revealed in an episode of the film. Locked by the Mavericks.
“I know Cuban has had several online interactions and made comments recently. It basically implies that the gentleman agreement wasn’t featured in Patrick Dumont. So Cuban might have really thought he’d get billions of people and keep his toys.
McMahon revealed that Dallas has very real concerns about Don Sic’s long-term durability.
Both Dumont and Harrison cited the lack of conditioning, work ethic and credibility as reasons to trade Doncic, and Macmahon agreed that these concerns, at least for those involved, are real.
“Nico had a good trading deadline last year,” he continued. “He thinks Luka will physically break down… I repeat the tension in the calf, who is concerned about the condition, as is the reason for worrying.
Last season, Donsic led the NBA in scoring, not only took the Mavericks to the finals, but also played in 70 games and showed a fair amount of durability. However, a persistent calf injury, a new wrist injury and offseason weight gain quickly left the front office away from him.
Even last season, the Mavericks campaigned to get him more MVP than Nicola Djokic, and he had a real case. He averaged 33.9 points, 9.2 rebounds and 9.8 assists in the regular season.
“The Mavericks couldn’t believe he wasn’t the MVP last year,” McMahon revealed.
“We took this team to the finals, led the postseason and points, rebounding, assisting, stealing, minutes, never before, a pretty impressive season.
Harrison may know more than the average fan, but Dallas fans all know one truth. You don’t trade the best players of all time.
Despite some degree of justification of trade, Harrison remains Dallas’s public enemy number one.