Tim MacMahon
The chant that had become so painfully familiar in the American Airlines Center since that shocking night in early February broke out once again in the final minutes of the Dallas Mavericks‘ Oct. 24 home loss to the woeful Washington Wizards.
“Fire Nico! Fire Nico! Fire Nico!”
Mavericks fans had been calling for general manager Nico Harrison’s termination since the moment that he traded Luka Doncic — a then-25-year-old, homegrown five-time first-team All-NBA selection and fresh off an NBA Finals appearance — to the Los Angeles Lakers in the early morning hours of Feb. 2.
At this particular moment, Doncic was in the midst of scoring 23 points in the first quarter on his new home court in downtown Los Angeles. He finished with 49 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists in a Lakers win that night, a stark contrast to the Mavs’ miserable night.
That foreshadowed the first few weeks of the season that ultimately sealed the fate of Harrison, who was fired in a Tuesday morning meeting with team governor Patrick Dumont, who came to regret approving Harrison’s plan to dump Doncic, according to sources. The deal sent Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first-round pick to Dallas, a return executives around the league considered extremely underwhelming for a perennial MVP candidate just entering his prime.
“Time will tell if I’m right,” Harrison said the day after the trade. Nine months later, time ran out on Harrison.
The Mavs have one of the NBA’s worst offenses and sit at the bottom of the Western Conference, ahead of only the New Orleans Pelicans, with a 3-8 record as Doncic shines for the 8-3 Lakers, leading the league with 37.1 points per game while also averaging 9.4 rebounds and 9.1 assists. Davis, meanwhile, has played in just 14 regular-season games for the Mavs, missing most of last season with an abdominal injury.
Doncic’s absence continues to hang over the franchise, even after a historic stroke of lottery luck delivered the No. 1 overall pick and prized prospect Cooper Flagg to Dallas. That was encapsulated by a surreal scene at the start of the second half of Monday night’s home loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, the sixth consecutive game Davis missed due to a left calf strain.
Dumont, attending his first game since a season-opening blowout loss to the San Antonio Spurs, engaged in a cordial conversation with an 18-year-old man who was wearing Doncic’s gold No. 77 Lakers jersey.
That fan, whose family has season tickets a few rows behind Dumont’s courtside seats, told reporters that he approached Dumont at his father’s urging to apologize for flipping him off and cursing at him late in the Oct. 22 season-opening loss. Dumont, the fan told The Athletic, expressed remorse for the Doncic trade.
Meanwhile, placards featuring a photo of Davis sat in many of the empty seats around the arena. “MAKE SOME NOISE!” the signs read.
The fans made plenty of noise, firing up “Fire Nico!” chants repeatedly throughout the fourth quarter.
Why did the Mavs fire Harrison now? Will they look to trade Davis? Here’s everything we know about the developing situation in Dallas.
Why fire Harrison now?
The situation in Dallas had reached a point of being untenable. Dumont had lost trust in Harrison, as evidenced by the governor’s involvement in the decision to hold off on Davis’ return over the weekend, siding with the Mavs’ medical staff’s desire to not risk aggravating the calf injury. The uncertainty hanging over Harrison’s head loomed like a black cloud over the entire organization.
“It is just a matter of time,” a league source told ESPN on Monday afternoon, hours before the Mavs blew a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter of yet another loss.
Dumont decided overnight that there was no rational reason to wait. The franchise needed to move on now.
Dumont addressed the move in a letter to the team’s fans Tuesday.
“I understand the profound impact these difficult last several months have had,” Dumont’s letter said. “Please know that I’m fully committed to the success of the Mavericks. … Our goal is to return winning basketball to Dallas and win championships.”
Patrick Dumont in letter to fans: “I understand the profound impact these difficult last several months have had. Please know that I’m fully committed to the success of the Mavericks.” pic.twitter.com/MjqModl5QG
— Tim MacMahon (@BannedMacMahon) November 11, 2025
What stands out most about the Mavs’ dreadful start?
Other than the constant negativity that has hung over the franchise? It’s the abysmal offense, which has a massive void in shot creation and playmaking.
“There is a Luka-sized hole on that roster,” an executive from a Western Conference team said.
Dallas climbed out of dead last in the league’s offensive efficiency rankings over the weekend. The Mavs are now ahead of the injury-ravaged Indiana Pacers, scoring only 104.2 points per 100 possessions.
Kidd started Flagg at point guard, a position the 18-year-old had never before played at any level, in the first seven games of the season before pulling the plug on that experiment. Veteran journeyman D’Angelo Russell, signed this summer as a stopgap fill-in for injured star Kyrie Irving, had an unsuccessful three-game stint as the starter before Kidd went with Brandon Williams on Monday night.
“There’s no point guard. You don’t have a floor leader,” a scout from an Eastern Conference team said. “That’s the first problem. Then you’re trying to make a guy who isn’t a point guard a point guard.
The coach doesn’t trust the guy you signed this summer. That’s obvious. They don’t trust him enough to make him the floor leader, and that’s in line with the consensus around the league. They don’t have shooting and they don’t have creation. Those are things you need to be a good offensive team.”
Dallas ranks last in the league in 3-pointers made (9.6 per game) and 3-point percentage (29.5%). The Mavs rank 27th in assists (27.7 per game). These shortcomings were predictable, considering how much their roster construction is tilted toward frontcourt players.
“Remarkable that Nico did not acquire a good guard this summer so they could win some games,” an exec from an Eastern Conference team said. “That was such low-hanging fruit.”
What’s the vibe inside the locker room?
The atmosphere at the American Airlines Center has been so miserable that the Mavs considered home court to be a disadvantage.
“These people don’t want us to win,” one player bemoaned, according to a team source.
The Mavs’ home-heavy schedule has only made maintaining decent morale more difficult. Dallas is 2-5 on its home floor, and while there hasn’t been any bickering between players, maintaining decent morale has been difficult as the losses have mounted.
“For me, it’s the most I’ve lost since, you know, I think, ever,” Flagg glumly said after a Nov. 5 home loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, which temporarily dropped Dallas to last in the West.
Center Daniel Gafford acknowledged after Monday night’s loss that “at times” the fans’ unrelenting focus on Harrison being fired was disheartening for the players.
“But we all know we got a job to do,” Gafford said. “It’s going to be a long season trying to win back a lot of fans, at the end of the day.”
What’s next with Anthony Davis?
The biggest question regarding Davis at this point is not about when he will return from his calf strain. It’s about whether the organization will consider exploring the trade market for the 32-year-old big man, which would never have been a remote possibility with Harrison running basketball operations.
It’s a path that several executives and scouts from other franchises believe would be logical for the Mavs as Dallas pivots to prioritize building around Flagg. The Mavs have built-in challenges in that mission due to giving up control of their first-round picks from 2027 through 2030 in trades made while successfully building a contender around Doncic.
“You have Flagg, but you’re old and you don’t own your picks,” a West decision-maker said. “[They have to] be comfortable with taking two steps back if that’s the necessary path. Be patient. They need to lose this year, but I don’t see Dumont being comfortable with taking a step back. It’s not natural as a new owner.”
It’s uncertain what the trade market for Davis would be due to his durability issues, although he is still a dominant force on both ends of the floor when healthy. Several league sources were adamant that determining that market over the upcoming months is due diligence that Dallas should do as it’s become clear that Harrison’s hopes of a three- to four-year window of contention won’t come to fruition.
“You don’t go two timelines anymore,” a West executive said. “You say, ‘We’re going to take what we can get [for Davis].’ At this point, I’m not sure what they can get.”
What’s next for the Mavs’ front office?
Assistant general managers Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi have been promoted to run the franchise’s basketball operations department on an interim basis.
Minority owner Mark Cuban, who wrongly anticipated he’d continue to run the team’s basketball operations department when he sold the majority share of the franchise to the Adelson and Dumont families in December 2023, has mapped out a plan for the front office’s future. According to sources, Cuban hopes to hire Dennis Lindsey, the former Utah vice president and general manager who is currently the second highest-ranking member of the Detroit Pistons’ front office. Lindsey served as a senior advisor for the Mavs during the 2023-24 season, when he had input on personnel moves that helped build the Finals roster around Doncic.
It is not known at this point how receptive Dumont will be to Cuban’s plan, but they have been in frequent dialogue in recent months, a significant change after Cuban was pushed completely out of basketball operations last season and blindsided by the Doncic deal. Coach Jason Kidd received a multi-year contract extension during the preseason after Dallas declined to give him permission to interview with the New York Knicks over the summer.
