Mavs GM Nico Harrison Roasted by Fans for Bafflingly Honest Line on Luka Doncic

The world is currently on fire to Dallas Mavericks fans—but not to general manager Nico Harrison, who sat at the podium during Monday's end-of-season press conference and tried his best to pretend everything was normal.

Harrison fielded several questions about his job status and about the state of the Mavericks moving forward following a tumultuous 2024-25 season that saw Dallas get eliminated in the play-in tournament just one year after making it to the NBA Finals.

For most of the 30-minute presser, Harrison regurgitated the same words he used in his closed-door discussion with members of the Dallas media last week. Then, the Mavs general manager caught the attention of his critics with an absolutely baffling line on the Luka Doncic trade.

Harrison was asked by a reporter whether the anger and outrage from the Mavs fanbase following the trade has exceeded his expectations.

"Good question," Harrison calmly said. "I did know Luka was important to the fan base. I didn't quite know it to what level."

Nico: “I did know Luka was important to the fan base. I didn’t know quite to this level.”
— tim cato (@tim_cato) April 21, 2025

Just a total mind-boggling statement considering Doncic—a five-time All-Star, former Rookie of the Year, Western Conference Finals MVP and one-time NBA scoring champ— had been with the Mavericks for seven years and established himself as one of the organization's most untouchable superstars ever.

And, even if that's really what Harrison thought, why admit it to a disgruntled Dallas fanbase that's arguably looking for any and every weapon to skewer him?

Fans and others around the NBA were quick to roast Harrison for his blissfully unaware and clearly out-of-touch comments on Doncic:

WHY DOES HE KEEP TALKING https://t.co/bbLS9Ckam7
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) April 21, 2025

Nico Harrison has the rare ability to make things worse every time he speaks publicly. What an incredible two sentences. https://t.co/gnzBI0tqXo
— Gary Parrish (@GaryParrishCBS) April 21, 2025

This is a fireable offense in itself… https://t.co/xNCvIiFCTU
— Kevin Gray Jr. (@KevinGraySports) April 21, 2025

https://t.co/VFUrmurOit pic.twitter.com/FP7KnSNay0
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) April 21, 2025

https://t.co/knZNoHSi0J pic.twitter.com/kNOnuSoe5Y
— Don Van Natta Jr. (@DVNJr) April 21, 2025

Why would you say this out loud in front of a microphone? https://t.co/MJCK0HKmgM
— Sam Monson (@SamMonsonNFL) April 21, 2025

And this is the person you want evaluating your personnel? This is quite the indictment. https://t.co/7eozOWdlPb
— Ed Werder (@WerderEdNFL) April 21, 2025

https://t.co/KD2jhaVrDt pic.twitter.com/RuskhWhl8I
— William Wilkerson (@WillieWilk23) April 21, 2025

What an incredible admission. Even if this answer's honest, it should be inexcusable to be this out of touch with your fanbase.

Doesn't take a detective to log on to the internet to see how much Mavs fans adored Luka. https://t.co/fccCTtIRqL
— Joon Lee (@joonlee) April 21, 2025

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