Nico Harrison to be fired as Dallas Mavericks' general manager

Nico Harrison became a storyline of his own last season, as the man behind one of the more shocking trades in the history of the NBA. Now, in the aftermath of that, and their team’s start to this current season, he’s now set to be out of a job in the association.

Harrison will reportedly be fired as the general manager of the Dallas Mavericks, per ESPN’s Shams Charania as well as Tim MacMahon. According to their reporting, Mavericks’ leadership is to make that official in a meeting scheduled for later this morning.

“BREAKING: The Dallas Mavericks and owner Patrick Dumont are expected to fire general manager Nico Harrison at a 10 am central time meeting on Tuesday, sources tell me and Tim MacMahon,” Charania tweeted this morning.

Harrison has been the Mavericks’ GM for the past four years since the summer of 2021, after having previously worked nearly two decades as an executive at Nike. In that span, Dallas is 182-157 (.537), with one appearance last year in the Western Conference Play-In and a pair of berths in the NBA Playoffs that resulted in a spot in the Western Conference Finals in 2022 and a spot in the NBA Finals, losing 4-1 to the Boston Celtics, in 2024.

This, though, goes back to what this year has been by Harrison. That obviously starts with the trade of Luka Dončić, the franchise’s star as a multi-time selection as an NBA All-Star and First Team All-NBA, who had earned consideration for NBA MVP, and had just carried them to team success to the Finals, to the Los Angeles Lakers back on the night of February 1st in a three-team deal that brought back a return of Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a first-round pick in the 2029 NBA Draft. That immediately led to local and national criticism of Harrison, with fan protests, calls for his firing, and even threats made against the Mavericks’ GM.

Dallas did close last season well enough in being a game away from making the NBA Playoffs as the No. 8 seed in the West, and did luck into the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft in which they selected Cooper Flagg out of Duke. However, the Mavericks have since opened this season at 3-8 overall, having lost five of their last six after a 116-114 defeat last night to the Milwaukee Bucks to be second from last in the West and being among the worst records so far in the NBA. Not that it directly affects them, but that then then looks even worse as Dončić is averaging nearly a triple-double of 37.1 points (49.1% FG, 32.1% 3PT on 3.9 makes), 9.4 rebounds, 9.1 assists, and 1.7 steals per game for LA, as, without a game played yet this season by LeBron James, the Lakers are 8-3 overall, among the best records in the association, after a win last night over the Charlotte Hornets.

Harrison lasted several more months following what all has gone on since the start of February. However, per reporting this morning out of Dallas, it looks as though the chants of “Fire Nico!” have since been answered by the Mavericks.