Mark Cuban reveals reason for Mavericks firing Nico Harrison; it's not Luka Doncic

The Dallas Mavericks decided to relieve Nico Harrison of his general manager role after a 3-8 start to the season, and a 16-28 record since the decision to trade Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers back in February. That is among the many reasons why people believe Harrison was let go, but there seems to be more to the story.

Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban spoke with Ro Parrish of CBS Texas, where he revealed that it was as much due to the salary cap and the lack of financial flexibility as it was anything else, which is probably just a cover-up for the real reason.

"Mark Cuban told me Tuesday on the record," Parrish started, "'While the fans' voice did play a factor, ultimately it was the team's performance, but the largest reason? Nico's mismanagement of the Mavs' salary cap, which led to a lack of flexibility last season and this season.'"

It is true that Nico Harrison tied up all of the Mavericks' future salary space. The Anthony Davis trade has the Mavericks on the books for more than $175 million for this year and the two following, but the last year of his deal is a player option worth more than $62 million when he's 34 years old. Hard to imagine he doesn't pick that option up. But if the Mavericks were paying Luka Doncic that number. they wouldn't be upset.

Oct 6, 2025; Fort Worth, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison looks on before the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Dickie's Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The Biggest Salary Mismanagement

There were some other highly questionable decisions, like trading Quentin Grimes and a second-round pick to the Philadelphia 76ers for Caleb Martin. After Martin failed his physical, they were able to get another second-round pick from the 76ers. Grimes was a pending restricted free agent that ended up taking his qualifying offer and will be an unrestricted free agent after this season. Martin is on the second year of a four-year deal, and will be paid more than $28 million. He's not even really in the rotation.

That pushed the Mavs right up against the apron last year, to the point where they couldn't make any other moves once people started getting hurt. Brandon Williams was who they wanted to sign, but they couldn't afford to do so until basically the final week of the season, and it was all because of that Grimes/Martin trade.

That also severely hindered the Mavs from making any moves this offseason. It took Kyrie Irving opting out of his player option and signing at a lower number to be able to open up the taxpayer mid-level exception to sign D'Angelo Russell, who has been pretty bad this season. And the Mavs are already projected to be over the first apron next season after extensions for P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford.

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