Who could replace Nico Harrison? Seven names to watch in Dallas with Mavericks GM reportedly to be fired

Nico Harrison is expected to be fired as the general manager of the Dallas Mavericks Tuesday. Between a dreary 3-8 start and the vociferous "fire Nico" chants that remain a constant at Mavericks home games, it seemed as though it was only a matter of time before Harrison was axed. It turns out trading Luka Dončić may not have been the best idea.

The firing will surely bring some measure of relief to a fanbase that appears utterly determined to boo Harrison out of this job, but it won't be long before that relief is replaced by a new sort of anxiety. This is a tricky job, one with plenty of upside, but a fair amount of downside. Having Cooper Flagg means everything. His mere presence gives Dallas hope for the future. But without control over their first-round picks between 2027 and 2030, we're headed into one of the most critical stretches in Mavericks history.

If Nico Harrison is really on the hot seat, that may be the best news Mavericks fans have gotten all season

Sam Quinn

Whoever replaces Harrison when the time for a change ultimately arrives needs to be prepared to act swiftly and decisively to safeguard Flagg's future. That probably means trading Anthony Davis and it may mean trading several other veterans as well. Those moves should come fairly quickly. No team needs a high 2026 draft pick quite as badly as the Mavericks do considering all of the future picks headed out the door.

Those basketball needs are paramount, but they're not the only consideration here. The Mavericks don't just need a smart basketball mind. They need someone who can serve as an effective ambassador between the organization and the fans, someone who can mend fences and clearly convey his plan to an antsy fanbase. That means that executives who either have an established track record or some credibility within the organization will likely be at the top of any early list of candidates. The Mavericks aren't just trying to win games here. They're trying to win back fans who may already have abandoned them.

It's too early to say definitively who is and is not a candidate for this job, but there are obvious names to watch. Those names either have ties to the Mavericks or strong enough reputations to take such a complicated job in the middle of a season and make the most of it. So here are the early names to keep an eye on as we await a seemingly inevitable change in Dallas.

Mark Cuban

Okay, let's define our terms here. Mark Cuban is not going to be the next general manager of the Dallas Mavericks. He has never held that title, nor has he been responsible for all of that job's functions. He's busy. He's not going to be the person in that building grinding mid-major tape and traveling to Europe to watch a 19-year-old second-round prospect.

But Mark Cuban rather successfully oversaw basketball operations for the Mavericks for a quarter century. When Patrick Dumont and Miriam Adelson bought the team, reporting at the time claimed that Cuban would retain control over basketball matters. Obviously that isn't how it played out. Harrison seemingly nudged Cuban out. Well, Harrison is gone now. Cuban still owns a 27% stake in the team and, unlike the current majority ownership, does have some subject-matter expertise here.

Would Cuban take on such a role after seeing being deprived of it when he sold the team? Would he need an agreement in writing about what he could and couldn't do in that position? Heck, does he even want to run a basketball team anymore? All of this is unclear. But the most successful period in Mavericks history came with Cuban at the helm. He'd have to hire or empower internal candidates to manage the day-to-day and only loop him in on big-picture decisions, but, at the very least, Cuban is more qualified to run basketball operations for the Mavericks than Dumont is.

Michael Finley

In Tim MacMahon's book "Wonder Boy" about the Dončić era in Dallas, he detailed a five-man committee Cuban assembled to help hire a new coach and general manager in 2021, a search that ultimately yielded Harrison and Jason Kidd. Those five men were Dirk Nowitzki, who is otherwise occupied with a studio job and has no experience in a full-time front office position, Keith Grant, the former assistant GM who has since retired, Casey Smith, the former head athletic trainer who now works for the Knicks, Don Kalkstein, the team's sports psychologist, and Michael Finley, one of the team's current assistant general managers and a former All-Star in Dallas. 

Of the five, Finley holds by far the most prominent role in Dallas today. He was part of Cuban's inner circle, but also worked under Harrison. He is an experienced executive, but also a respected former player who should mostly satisfy the fanbase (provided its more conspiratorial wing has gotten over the beer incident with Dončić). If Cuban returns to a more prominent role, Finley is a feasible fit underneath him. If not, Finley has been a candidate for GM jobs in the past, including in Dallas, and would seemingly be a name to watch this time around as well if internal candidates are considered.

Matt Riccardi

Finley is one of the assistant general managers underneath Harrison. Matt Riccardi is another. He lacks Finley's reputation and playing experience, but he has subtly become important to the Mavericks not only as a decision-maker on basketball matters, but as a voice and face for the front office.

After Harrison's disastrous press availability last April, Riccardi became a sort of unofficial spokesman for the Mavericks. He was the team's representative in the lottery drawing room when they won Cooper Flagg, and he made a number of podcast and on-camera appearances over the course of the offseason to discuss the team, which is something of a rarity for executives that don't have the general manager title or decision-making powers. Given the severity of the messaging issues Dallas had in the wake of the Dončić trade, that is quietly a pretty important part of this job. It displays a level of trust from ownership that appears to be lacking in Harrison and that trust could make him a candidate for the full-time job.

Dennis Lindsey

Though Harrison will be remembered for his worst moves, he did have a stretch in 2023 and 2024 during which he took the Mavericks from the lottery to the Finals. After the Dončić trade, Haralabos Voulgaris, the former professional gambler and alleged shadow GM of the Mavericks, hinted on Twitter that Lindsey, the former GM of the Jazz who was with the Mavericks during the Finals season, was somewhat responsible for that success. 

Well, in July of 2024, the Pistons hired Lindsey away from the Mavericks. Things fell apart from there. Correlation does not necessarily equal causation, but perhaps having another experienced general manager in the building could have protected Harrison from his worst impulses. Lindsey built the Donovan Mitchell-Rudy Gobert Jazz teams that achieved quite a bit of regular-season success, so if he built up any goodwill with ownership in Dallas during his brief tenure with the Mavericks, he'd figure to be a name they consider as well.

Bob Myers

It's the name that comes up in every high-profile GM search. If Bob Myers wants to run a team, he'll be able to run a team. At the moment, Myers is technically running several of them. He was recently named the new president of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, the group that owns the Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Devils and Washington Commanders. That job differs quite a bit from a standard GM gig. It's more of an oversight position than day-to-day management. On the surface, it seems less stressful.

Any team trying to hire a GM should call Myers and, if he's interested, talk to him. According to Tim Cato, Patrick Dumont actually did over the summer. Aside from his track record as a talent evaluator for the Warriors, he is extremely well regarded as a manager of people. Holding together a dynasty isn't easy, but Myers did it for nearly a decade. Given some of the less tactful ways Harrison seemingly reshaped the organization in his image, having someone like Myers who would likely be able to rally the staff and gain immediate fan support would be quite valuable. But, for the time being, there just isn't any indication that Myers wants to be a GM again and, even if he does, we don't know how loose his current contract is. Could he leave for a GM job if he wanted? Maybe. Until he shows real interest, it probably isn't worth too much thought.

Masai Ujiri

Let's say the Mavericks want to go big-game hunting but Myers is off of the table. Suddenly, the number of available, championship-winning executives looks pretty small. The Nuggets just fired Calvin Booth, but given the drama that doomed both him and Michael Malone in Denver, he probably isn't suited to a high-pressure job like this. Mitch Kupchak is technically an advisor for the Hornets, but is so far removed from his titles that he probably isn't worth pursuing. The same was true of Joe Dumars. The Pelicans ignored that and look where it got them. Most other title-winning executives are spoken for. Or, in Donnie Nelson's case, have already been fired by the Mavericks.

Between the executives we've already covered and the ones still employed by other teams, there are amazingly only two championship GMs left to be theoretically hired. The first is Masai Ujiri. Five years ago, this is a slam dunk hire. Teams regularly used to try to poach Ujiri when the Raptors were at their peak. But they haven't won a playoff series since 2020 and the current roster that he largely built looks somewhat directionless. Further, his later Raptors teams shared many of the same issues the Harrison Mavericks currently have: too many big, athletic defenders and not enough shooting and ball-handling. Ujiri would have to explain some of his later decisions in Toronto, but he figures to be in the mix for future GM openings if he wants to be.

David Griffin

Griffin is the other championship-winning GM who's on the market, and considering how poorly things have gone in New Orleans since he was fired, it's worth wondering how much blame he really bears for the poor fortunes of the Pelicans. He largely drafted well there, landing players like Trey Murphy and Herb Jones after the lottery, and it's not his fault Zion Williamson frequently got hurt. There were certainly misses as well, with the Dejounte Murray trade coming to mind, but considering Griffin's track record in Cleveland, he's probably going to draw consideration for future GM jobs as well.

One of the fringe benefits of a Griffin hire? He started his NBA career in Phoenix's PR department and has done television work between jobs. In other words, he's media friendly. He should be able to explain his decisions to an irritable fanbase more effectively than Harrison did.