Mavericks fire Nico Harrison: Three things Dallas needs to do in the immediate aftermath to get back on track

The Dallas Mavericks have fired embattled general manager Nico Harrison. The move comes nine months after making the highly controversial decision to trade franchise centerpiece Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers for a package centered around Anthony Davis. It's a surprising firing to no one and the Mavericks fanbase is undoubtedly elated that the man who traded away their franchise darling is no longer making decisions for the team.

Harrison's now out and that should provide some relief and validation for the fans who have been incredibly vocal in the months since the trade. Now the Mavericks must clean up Harrison's mess. Dončić isn't walking back through that door, so Dallas must figure out the path ahead for the rest of the season to at least right some of the wrongs Harrison has done.

The Mavericks have named Matt Riccardi and Michael Finely as interim co-general managers, but team governor Patrick Dumont plans on leading an exhaustive search to find a long-term replacement for Harrison. While the next permanent decision-maker is unknown, some of the decisions that should be made in the immediate aftermath of Harrison's firing are pretty straightforward.

With Harrison on his way out, let's take a look at three things the Mavericks must do now.

Mavericks fire Nico Harrison: General manager ousted less than a year after Luka Dončić trade

Sam Quinn

1. Trade Anthony Davis

Davis should immediately become a trade candidate. This is no fault of Davis; it was always going to be difficult to make Mavericks fans fully support him when he's a reminder of what they lost in that trade every time he suits up. But the man who was so enamored with bringing Davis to Dallas is no longer in charge, so a new vision will certainly be in place regardless of who takes the job. I'm sure it also doesn't sit right with Davis that Dumont told a Mavericks fan at the game Monday night that the Dončić trade was "a mistake."

That aside, Davis' fit on this team became a problem as soon as the Mavericks' 1.8% chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 Draft went from a long shot to reality. When Cooper Flagg became a member of the Mavericks, Davis became even more expendable. Flagg can naturally shift between both forward positions, but the abundance of forwards on this team and the lack of healthy guards has forced him to play out of position. Flagg's been operating as a combo guard, despite that not being best suited to his strengths. 

The simpler move -- and more fruitful at this point -- would be to trade PJ Washington. But the Mavericks have already committed to Washington on a four-year, $88.7 million deal and he's not eligible to be traded until the summer. Washington is also the better fit next to Flagg for the time being, while Davis' presence clogging the paint alongside any of Dallas' other bigs who can't stretch the floor limits Flagg's ability to attack the rim.

Trading Davis is easier said than done. He's missed the last six games due to a calf strain, though his return is imminent. In the five games he played, Davis is averaging 20.8 points, 10.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists on an efficient 52% from the floor. He's an All-Star, All-Defensive player when he's healthy, but Davis' durability will be the focal point in any trade conversations.

Any return for Davis should come with a quality guard attached. Until Kyrie Irving returns, there has to be a better solution than the current options, and that includes D'Angelo Russell, who has been a massive disappointment thus far. Could the Mavericks convince the Bulls to part ways with Coby White in exchange for the hometown kid in Davis? 

The Bulls have been cooking without White, who has yet to make his season debut. He would fit in seamlessly in the backcourt alongside Josh Giddey, who is putting together an All-Star campaign, but Chicago is also in desperate need of some rim protection. Sending White and Nikola Vucevic to the Mavericks in exchange for a package centered around Davis would solve some problems for both teams. Vucevic is the kind of floor-spacing big who would be the most ideal to place next to Flagg. White is a dynamic guard who is closer to Flagg's timeline at 24 years old.

The Spurs could be another logical trade partner here. De'Aaron Fox might appear like the odd man out in San Antonio's backcourt logjam thanks to the quick ascension of Stephon Castle and rookie Dylan Harper. Fox can't be traded until Feb. 4 and it would take a lot to make the money work, but a Fox and Irving backcourt could work for Dallas.

Trading Davis works for both sides. Davis can -- hopefully -- be sent to a contending team, while the Mavericks can go all-in on building around Flagg for the future. Speaking of which...

2. Go all-in on rebuilding around Flagg

This goes hand-and-hand with the first point. This should've been Dallas' plan entering the season, because it's not every day that a generational star falls in your lap. The Mavericks have been lucky for that to happen to them twice in the last 10 years. Having Flagg extends Dallas' runway back to competitiveness and everything done from this point forward should be done with thought about how it's going to best serve his development.

That means, as mentioned above, trading Davis and hoping you net a quality package that comes with draft capital in return. That also means trading someone like Klay Thompson, who looks like he'd rather be on his boat than out there with this team with the way he's playing. Thompson's averaging a career low in points (7.4), while shooting worse than he ever has (31.4% FG, 26.7% 3P). Jason Kidd finally moved Thompson to the bench after an abysmal start to the season, but trading him to a team better suited to highlight his elite catch-and-shoot ability would be better for all involved.

The same is true of someone like Daniel Gafford, who will draw significant interest from teams around the trade deadline. Gafford was likely going to be a trade candidate regardless of Harrison's employment because you have Dereck Lively II, but this might make that a certainty. Lively has durability issues of his own, so keeping Gafford to this point has been more of an insurance policy for the Mavericks. But that's when they were trying to compete for a playoff spot. 

The goal for the rest of the season shouldn't be to immediately compete, which was what Harrison was aiming for. The Mavericks should be focusing on Flagg's development and hoping they get a good shot at landing a top-5 pick in what's expected to be yet another extremely loaded draft class. 

Flagg doesn't turn 19 until December, so there's no reason to expedite this process. Stockpiling young talent through trades and the draft should be the plan this year, especially when the Mavericks don't control any of their first-round picks from 2027 to 2031. This is the golden year to bottom out and hope you get blessed by the ping pong balls again to get a shot at drafting the likes of Darryn Peterson or any of the other prized names at the top of the draft board.

Every game should be an opportunity for Flagg to get the reps needed to develop and learn from his mistakes. There should never be a scenario in which Russell is the one taking three straight bad shots down the stretch of a close game, which is what happened at the end of Dallas' loss to the Rockets. The ball should be in Flagg's hands, or at the very least he should be involved in those late-game plays instead of just standing in the corner and watching Russell or Thompson jack up shots.

Flagg is the Mavericks' future and they need to do everything to put him in the best position to succeed for the rest of the season.

3. Repair relationship with the fans

I don't think we've seen a reaction to a trade quite like we have since the Mavericks traded Dončić. Protests were held outside the arena and chants of "Fire Nico" became a constant at home games, most recently when Washington was taking what would've been game-tying free throws against the Bucks Monday night in the fourth quarter.

Mavericks fans made it known loud and clear how they felt about the trade. Some even abandoned the team completely and became Lakers fans because of Dončić. It didn't help that the messaging since the Dončić trade only flamed the anger from the fans. Harrison's constant refrain of "defense wins championships" in response to why the Slovenian superstar was traded was met with confusion. His words about how the team wasn't convinced Dončić would sign the incredibly lucrative extension he was eligible for last summer despite his constant commitment and loyalty to the franchise was seen as a fraudulent excuse.

Harrison and Dumont took a fiercely loyal fanbase for granted and have seen the consequences play out over the last nine months. The Mavericks' 24-year sellout streak ended when they hosted the Pelicans on Nov. 5. The longest sellout record in the league came to an end and could be directly correlated to the Dončić trade. But it's not just the trade, it's everything that's come out about Harrison's tenure what's and happened since the trade, too. 

Assistant coach God Shammgod, who had been with the team for the entirety of Dončić's career in Dallas, left to join the Orlando Magic's coaching staff in the summer. Shammgod said the trade was a big reason why he bolted for Orlando. The Mavericks fired longtime team trainer Casey Smith in 2023 to the dismay of both Dončić and franchise legend Dirk Nowitzki. Smith had been with the Mavericks for two decades and it was his dismissal that reportedly led to Nowitzki distancing himself from the franchise.

Harrison eroded the trust of Mavericks fans and Dumont signed off on all of it. Dumont has taken a step in the right direction after publishing an open letter confirming Harrison's firing and acknowledging the impact the last nine months have had on the fans.

"I understand the profound impact these difficult last several months have had," Dumont wrote. "Please know that I'm fully committed to the success of the Mavericks."

Firing Harrison was the right decision, but now the Mavericks need to look ahead and course correct what's transpired over the last nine months. Riccardi and Finley will be tasked with trying to lead Dallas out of what's been a dark period of time for the franchise, and while their plan forward is unclear, it can't get worse than what Harrison did nine months ago.