Nico Harrison Believes Cooper Flagg Helps Mavs Fans 'See the Vision' of His Bold Plan

He hopes Mavericks fans can go easier on him months after he traded away Luka Doncic.
Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison looks on with Mavericks first overall pick Cooper Flagg at a press conference.
Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison looks on with Mavericks first overall pick Cooper Flagg at a press conference. / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
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Dallas Mavericks fans haven't been too fond of general manager Nico Harrison these past few months ever since he traded away Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in February. Fans immediately called for the franchise to fire him, and those chants continued for months.

But, in a surprising turn of events, the Mavericks miraculously won the NBA draft lottery and selected Cooper Flagg with the No. 1 pick this week. A superstar with as much potential as Flagg has breathed new life into the fan base, and Harrison hopes the Mavs faithful starts to see how he's trying to turn the team's luck around.

"We're in 'win now' mode, and we have a really good team, and Cooper adds to that," Harrison said during Flagg's introductory press conference on Friday. "I think the fans can finally start to see the vision."

These comments come after Harrison admitted he hopes the public goes easier on him after the team was able to draft Flagg. The fans will surely not 100% get over the dramatic trade of Doncic, but adding Flagg to the squad may lighten them up a bit. We'll see what chants are shouted in American Airlines Center this fall.


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Madison Williams
MADISON WILLIAMS

Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.