Mavericks' Nico Harrison is still receiving too much praise

Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison was rightfully criticized for trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, and a lot of people are surprised that he was able to keep his job despite the team falling apart after the trade. Fortunately for Mavericks fans, they were saved by landing the first overall pick, giving them Cooper Flagg.

Nico Harrison is getting far too much credit for the Mavs landing Cooper Flagg. Bleacher Report's Andy Bailey recently graded each general manager's offseason on a GPA scale and gave Harrison an "A" for the Draft.

"You might ask why the Mavs get an A for simply winning the lottery against monumental odds and then taking the consensus top prospect," Bailey wrote. "And it'd be fair for you to do that. But the fact that Dallas emerged from draft night with Cooper Flagg, a player with future MVP potential, gets them the automatic high mark."

Harrison doesn't deserve credit for the Mavericks landing Flagg. He had no way of knowing that they would jump up from 11th to 1st on a 1.8% chance on the night of the Lottery. And he shouldn't be praised for taking the obvious best player in the class, even if they needed a guard more.

Jun 27, 2025; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison speaks to the media at the Dallas Mavericks Practice Facility. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Nico Harrison Still Given a Passing Grade

That wasn't the only thing that Harrison was given a grade on, as he was given a D+ for "new additions" because of the Luka Doncic trade and for the only major addition being D'Angelo Russell, and he was given a B+ for "Continuity." That brought him to a GPA of 2.9, which is a passing grade.

"The headline suggests this analysis is limited to this offseason, but we can't avoid the fact that the Dallas Mavericks made the least explainable trade in NBA history back in February, especially when their most notable offseason acquisition (outside the draft, of course) was D'Angelo Russell," Bailey further explained. "The veteran journeyman is a solid playmaker and scorer, but he's long been considered a dreadful individual defender. And signing him to hold down the point guard fort until Kyrie Irving returns flies in the face of the organization's near constant refrain of 'defense wins championships' after jettisoning Luka Dončić."

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