By Dorothy J. Gentry:
Mavs GM Nico Harrison admitted during a Monday afternoon press conference that he didn’t realize the extent of the love Mavs fans had for Luka Dončić.
“I knew Luka was important to the fan base,” Harrison said when asked his reaction to the anger and outrage that followed the surprising trade that sent the beloved Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis.
“I didn’t quite know it to what level.”
Harrison, speaking to a packed room of media at the Mavs’ practice facility, spent almost half an hour answering question after question – most centering on the trade that shook up the NBA and still has many calling for Harrision’s job.
“The way we looked at it, if we put a team on the floor that’s Kyrie (Irving), Klay Thompson, PJ (Wasington), Anthony Davis and (Dereck) Lively; we felt that’s a championship-caliber team and we would have been winning at a high level and that would have quieted some of the outrage.
“But unfortunately we weren’t able to do that so it just continued to go on and on.”
Many of the media’s questions centered on the response of fans to the trade, what was Harrison’s thought-process in instigating the trade and the future of the Mavs franchise. One reporter even asked Harrison directly why he shouldn’t be fired, as many fans are asking for.
“I think I’ve done a really good job here,” Harrison said. “I don’t think I can be judged by injuries this year. You have to be judged in totality from beginning to end.”
Harrison also touted the value of 32-year-old Anthony Davis, who won a championship with the Lakers in 2020, but has a history of injuries.
“If you don’t value AD as an all-NBA player and all-defensive player, then you’re not going to like the trade,” Harrison said. “We targeted AD. But if you don’t like him, there’s nothing else we get that’s going to make you excited about the trade.
“I think it’s really doubling-down on defense. When we had the opportunity to get Anthony Davis, who is one of the best two-way players in the league, we jumped at that opportunity.
“I do believe we have a championship-caliber team and we’ll show that next year.”
Getting healthy will be a priority this offseason for the Mavs who don’t look to change too much of the key pieces they already have in place on their roster. They will have a top-14 pick in the NBA draft. Where it fallas will be determined in the draft lottery next month.
“Really, we just need to get healthy,” Harrison said. “The team we’re bringing back is a championship-caliber team. We fully expect to have Kyrie back with us next year. I feel like we have a championship caliber team when we’re whole. And we’re going to hang our hat on defense. We’re going to be one of the best defensive teams in the league and I think that’s going to be our calling card.
“I think we have the assets already,” Harrison continued. “It’s just building around them. I’m sorry, but I’m not capable of looking at the worst-case scenario. Everything about what we do is about how do we continue to get better.
“We’re coming back already with what we feel is a championship-caliber team. So now we’ll use the draft, we’ll use free agency to add to that.”
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