P.J. Washington tried to ignore them. The Dallas Mavericks forward connected on his first free throw attempt midway through the fourth quarter Monday night when a familiar chant broke out. By the time he spun the ball for his second attempt at the stripe, the noise was thunderous: “Fire Nico!” then five claps in between, “Fire Nico!”
The chants were as loud and as clear of a directive as they were nine months ago, when fan emotions reached their peak, but by Tuesday morning, Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont had come to the inevitable decision to heed their call and part ways with Nico Harrison.
The Mavericks fired their general manager and president of basketball operations after four seasons, one NBA Finals appearance and one franchise-altering trade and in the midst of Dallas’ abysmal 3-8 start, its worst since 2018.
Those dismal results, combined with more injury misfortune, dimmed the championship expectations Harrison set on that cold Feb. 2 day in Cleveland as he attempted to explain his rationale for trading generational superstar Luka Doncic and remaking a team that went to the NBA Finals the previous season.
Dallas has handed the task of running the franchise to vice president of basketball operations Michael Finley and assistant general manager Matt Riccardi on an interim basis, naming them co-interim general managers who will oversee basketball operations.
“This decision reflects our continued commitment to building a championship-caliber organization, one that delivers for our players, our partners, and most importantly, our fans,” Dumont said in a prepared statement.
The Mavericks will begin a comprehensive search for a permanent replacement. Riccardi or Finley could emerge as candidates if Dumont keeps the hiring process close to home.
As the majority shareholder in June 2021, Mark Cuban hired Harrison to replace longtime general manager Donnie Nelson. The Mavericks went 182-157 and reached the playoffs three times during Harrison’s tenure, including two Western Conference Finals and an NBA Finals appearance in 2024 – the franchise’s first since its 2011 championship season.
Harrison will long be remembered as the architect of what’s been called the worst trade in NBA history. His decision last season to deal Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis and Max Christie yielded immediate backlash from fans.
Chants of “Fire Nico!” became a universal swan song anytime the Mavericks found themselves in an unfortunate position.
Fans chanted the phrase in the team’s first home game following the trade. They rallied together and chanted it the first time Doncic returned to American Airlines Center as a member of the Lakers. Nine months later, the rallying cries remained, none louder than during Monday’s defining loss to the Bucks.
Dumont sat in his usual courtside seat during the team’s season-opening loss to San Antonio on Oct. 22. While it’s normal for NBA governors to show face at the start of the season, his arrival Monday night at AAC roughly two hours before tip-off prompted immediate speculation surrounding Harrison’s job.
Even more peculiar, the Mavericks governor shared a conversation for several minutes of the third quarter Monday with a teenager wearing a gold Luka Doncic Lakers jersey. Nicholas Dickason, an 18-year-old Mavericks fan and SMU student, told The News he apologized to Dumont for flipping him off after the lopsided Spurs loss.
He also revealed Dumont called the decision to trade Doncic a “regret.” But in the aftermath of the trade, the governor was aligned with Harrison, telling The Dallas Morning News, “In Nico we trust.”
“You have to respect the track record,” Dumont said. “You have to respect his intellect. You have to respect his relationships and his judgment and his point of view and the way he communicates.”
In that interview, Dumont also said, “When you want to pursue excellence in an organization, you have to make the tough decisions and stand by them and keep going.”
It appears firing Harrison was another decision Dumont felt the team needed to make to return to its pursuit of championships.
A roster once structured around Doncic, one with shot creators and perimeter shooting, is now rooted in size and a defensive-minded frontcourt, with a severe lack of its former strengths.
Even worse, the team’s ability to improve through the draft will be severely limited after the 2026 offseason because the Mavericks don’t have total control over their first-round pick until 2031.
At his final news conference in April to conclude the 2024-25 season, Harrison was asked why he shouldn’t be fired.
“One, I think I’ve done a really good job here,” he said, “and I don’t think I can be judged by the injuries this year. You have to judge the totality from beginning to end. I think I have a really good working relationship with Patrick. I think you add in [Mavericks CEO] Rick [Welts], the leadership that we have is really elite. You’ll see next year when our team comes back we’re going to be competing for a championship.”
In the seven months since those comments, the Mavericks are clinging to the bottom of the NBA standings and in no position to compete for a title. At this rate, they’re headed for a second consecutive appearance in the NBA draft lottery.
Harrison’s highlights and lowlights
Harrison arrived in Dallas four years ago as a well-respected executive who had a 19-year career with Nike, where he forged several of the relationships he’s cultivated in the NBA.
He leaves as a risk-taker. A gambler. A GM who orchestrated a trade every midseason deadline since his first in 2022. He boasts wins such as the acquisitions of Kyrie Irving, Washington and Daniel Gafford. He made impactful draft selections with Cooper Flagg and Dereck Lively II.
The 2024 free-agent signing of Klay Thompson was considered a significant addition to the former core built around Doncic and Irving, but the veteran sharpshooter’s struggles and defensive woes — on a rosrer centered around defense — have contributed to the Mavericks’ woeful start.
Jason Kidd was the only coach under the leadership of Harrison, who gave the fifth-year Mavericks coach two contract extensions, most recently ahead of the 2025-26 season. His task will be to keep the team together throughout yet another transition.
Harrison’s missed opportunities during his tenure include declining to sign New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson to an extension and exhausting the team’s draft assets to build a championship contender around Doncic, only to turn around and deal the former cornerstone to his longtime associate, Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka.
The immediate aftermath of the trade produced several memorable one-liners from Harrison’s five news conferences since Feb. 2.
“Defense wins championships.”
“Fortune favors the bold.”
“I think fans are starting to see the vision.”
None of those remarks went over well with the Mavericks fans, nor did his decision to part ways with longtime athletic trainer Casey Smith, who won back-to-back Athletic Training Staff of the Year awards with Dallas in 2020-21 and 2021-22. The Mavericks were one of the NBA’s most injured teams last season.
But those shortcomings will always be overshadowed by the defining act of Harrison’s time in Dallas: deciding the Mavericks were better without Doncic.
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