On Tuesday, the Dallas Mavericks had a closed-door roundtable with select media members to address the blockbuster trade the organization made during the 2024-25 NBA season. The Mavericks caught a ton of flak for their decision to trade their franchise star, Luka Doncic, to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis. Since then, fans and critics have aired their frustration with the front office and the new ownership group.
The off-the-record press conference didn’t help with the image of general manager Nico Harrison and majority owner Patrick Dumont. Harrison reiterated that they don’t have any regrets about their decision. However, NBA Insider Shams Charania revealed that the move to have a closed-door roundtable wasn’t Harrison’s idea.
Charania said on Wednesday’s episode of “NBA Countdown” that it was Dumont’s idea to talk about the biggest story of the regular season.
“Nico Harrison did not want to do this closed-door roundtable. This was not his idea. This was something that was enforced by their owner, Patrick Dumont,” Charania revealed.
"Nico Harrison did not want to do this closed-door roundtable. This was not his idea. This was something that was enforced by their owner, Patrick Dumont."@ShamsCharania on the Mavs GM's press conference. pic.twitter.com/lPilLq8iin
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) April 17, 2025
His co-host and former Golden State Warriors executive, Bob Myers, said the news conference was not well received. Myers believes that ignoring the problem would have been preferable.
“In a situation like that, I think they were trying to repair some things, it felt like that. But it felt like some of the comments didn’t land,” Myers said.
Myers thinks the Mavericks thought it would be a great idea to address the situation following what happened after the trade. Dallas lost All-Star guard Kyrie Irving because of a season-ending ACL injury and Davis only played nine games for the team in the regular season.
Stephen A. Smith took a shot at the Dallas Mavericks’ general manager
The comments made by the Dallas Mavericks’ general manager about not having a regret with the blockbuster trade did not resonate well with others. That includes ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, who went off on the recent edition of “First Take.”
“Knowing that [the fans] were chanting to fire [Nico Harrison], knowing how Luka looked when he came into your house…How anemic Anthony Davis looked when Luka was dropping 45 on that basketball court in Dallas…it might behoove you not to talk at all. Let the whole damn season end,” Smith said.
"You shut up and you go home. That's what [Nico Harrison] should do." 😳 @stephenasmith says he "hated" Nico Harrison's recent comments on having "no regrets" about trading Luka Doncic 👀 pic.twitter.com/GnyHw33TN5
— First Take (@FirstTake) April 16, 2025
According to Smith, he believes the malpractice has more to do with the fact that the Dallas Mavericks couldn’t get a first-round pick.
“You couldn’t get one [unprotected first-round pick]? You didn’t get Austin Reaves? …When that happens, you don’t have a press conference to talk about it. You just don’t.”
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Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen on Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
