Time Has Told Nico Harrison What Mavericks Fans Knew All Along

"The easiest thing for me to do is do nothing, and everyone would praise me for doing nothing. But we really believe in it -- and time will tell if I'm right... The future to me is three, four years from now. The future 10 years from now, I don't know. They'll probably bury me and [Jason Kidd] by then. Or we'll bury ourselves."

That's what former Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison said about 12 hours after he infamously traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in the most shocking trade in NBA history. Some, including myself, called it the worst trade in NBA history as soon as it was made. Getting only Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a 2029 first-round pick was pennies on the dollar for Doncic's value. And time was never on Nico Harrison's side.

3 days after the trade: Nico Harrison makes another awful trade, sending Quentin Grimes and a second-round pick to the Philadelphia 76ers for Caleb Martin. After Martin fails his physical, they're able to get a second-round pick back in return, too.

7 days after the trade: Anthony Davis made his Mavericks debut against the Houston Rockets but went down in the third quarter with an adductor strain, sidelining him for 44 days. Even when he returned, he looked a step slow.

30 days after the trade: Kyrie Irving tears the ACL in his left knee against the Sacramento Kings. Nearly a year later, Irving still hasn't returned to action.

Mar 3, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (11) is helped off the court by forward Naji Marshall (13) and forward Anthony Davis (3) during the second quarter against the Sacramento Kings at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

76 days after the trade: The Dallas Mavericks are eliminated from playoff contention, falling in the Play-In Tournament to the Memphis Grizzlies. They didn't make the playoffs, less than a year removed from being in the NBA Finals, but this was supposed to be a win-now trade.

101 days after the trade: The Mavericks lucked out and won the NBA Draft Lottery despite a 1.8% chance of doing so, jumping up from the 11th-best odds. And they only had those odds after winning a coin flip with the Chicago Bulls, with whom they were tied.

144 days after the trade: Dallas makes it official and selects Cooper Flagg first overall, which was the obvious choice. They never even looked at another prospect, and for good reason.

146 days after the trade: Nico Harrison delivers his infamous "Fans can finally start to see the vision" quote in Cooper Flagg's introductory press conference, despite winning the first overall pick and landing a generation star a year after making the NBA Finals, never being a part of the vision to begin with.

155 days after the trade: The Mavericks use their lone roster spot to sign D'Angelo Russell, who Jason Kidd hated playing so much that the only time Russell played after the calendar turned to 2026 was the one game Kidd was ejected from.

157 days after the trade: It's announced that Anthony Davis has had a procedure to repair a detached retina. This forces him to show up into the season overweight and out of shape, as he's not able to work out much in the summer.

Dallas Mavericks All-Star Anthony Davis underwent a procedure to repair a detached retina that he suffered during the season, sources tell ESPN. Davis played through multiple hits to the face last year. He is expected to be healthy for next training camp. pic.twitter.com/Yz8vxBlp06
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 8, 2025

270 days after the trade: Anthony Davis suffers a calf contusion in the fifth game of the season against the Indiana Pacers. They tried to rush him back sooner, but Patrick Dumont eventually stepped in and held him out longer. He'd be out for 30 days.

283 days after the trade: The Dallas Mavericks fire Nico Harrison with the team sitting 3-8 in the season. He should've been fired the instant he even thought about making the Doncic trade. "Fire Nico" chants drowned out American Airlines Center, especially in the loss the night before to the Bucks, where fans were chanting it with P.J. Washington at the free-throw line late with a chance to tie or win the game.

341 days after the trade: Anthony Davis goes down late in a game on the road against the Utah Jazz after getting his fingers stuck in Lauri Markkanen's jersey. It would come out after that Davis had ligament damage in his left hand, and would likely miss six weeks.

368 days after the trade: The Dallas Mavericks, 12 games below .500, finally cut their losses, trading Anthony Davis in a package with D'Angelo Russell, Jaden Hardy, and Dante Exum to the lowly Washington Wizards for mostly expiring contracts and low-tier picks. It's more than most people expected they would get for Davis, but way less than they deserved for trading Doncic.

BREAKING: The Dallas Mavericks are trading 10-time NBA All-Star Anthony Davis, Jaden Hardy, D'Angelo Russell and Dante Exum to the Washington Wizards for Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Malaki Branham, Marvin Bagley III, 2 first-round picks and 3 second-rounders, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/sfrQQubI5i
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 4, 2026

It Didn't Take 3-4 Years for Nico Harrison To Be Proven Wrong

Everyone knew the Luka Doncic trade was a disaster the moment it happened. Doncic wanted to be a Maverick for life, have a statue next to Dirk Nowitzki one day. Mavericks fans are still hopeful that he'll return in 2028 as a free agent.

If not for Cooper Flagg being an absolute miracle from the basketball gods, there would be no hope for this franchise. They don't have control over their own first-round picks from 2027 through 2030. That could change over the course of the next few hours, and maybe even the offseason if they sell other pieces.

But it didn't take 3-4 years for Nico Harrison to be proven wrong. It took 368 days for everyone else in the basketball world to be proven right, that you can't trade a 25-year-old megastar in the middle of the night and expect to get away with it.

For now, this franchise is fully focused on building around Cooper Flagg, which is as it should be. Maybe we see more moves before Thursday's 3 p.m. deadline, but they created enough financial flexibility from the Anthony Davis trade that they don't really need to make any other trades unless the offer is too good to pass up. But the more they can take away the remnants of Nico Harrison, the better.

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