The chant that had become painfully familiar at American Airlines Center since that shocking night in early February broke out again in the final minutes of the Dallas Mavericks’ home loss on Oct. 24 to a woeful Washington Wizards team.
“Knock out Nico! Knock out Nico! Knock out Nico!”
Mavericks fans have been clamoring for the termination of general manager Nico Harrison from the moment he traded Luka Doncic — then 25-years-old, a five-time All-NBA first-team selection and a recent NBA Finals appearance — to the Los Angeles Lakers in the early morning hours of February 2.
At this very moment, Doncic was in the middle of scoring 23 points in the first quarter on his new home court in downtown Los Angeles. He finished with 49 points, 11 rebounds, and 8 assists in the Lakers’ win that night, a stark contrast to the Mavs’ miserable night.
That foreshadowed the first few weeks of the season that ultimately sealed the fate of Harrison, who was fired in a Tuesday morning meeting with team governor Patrick Dumont, who came to regret approving Harrison’s plan to get rid of Doncic, according to sources. The deal sent Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first-round pick to Dallas, a quality executive in the league that’s pretty disappointing for a perennial MVP candidate who’s just entering his prime.
“Time will tell if I’m right,” Harrison said the day after the trade. After nine months, Harrison ran out of time.
The Mavs have one of the worst offenses in the NBA and sit at the bottom of the Western Conference, ahead of only the New Orleans Pelicans, with a 3-8 record while Doncic is a solid 8-3 for the Lakers, leading the league with 37.1 points per game while averaging 9.4 rebounds and 9.1 assists. Meanwhile, Davis played in just 14 regular-season games for the Mavs, missing most of last season with an abdominal injury.
Doncic’s absence continues to impact the franchise, even after a historic stroke of lottery luck led to the first overall pick — prospect Cooper Flagg — being handed to Dallas. That was wrapped up in a surreal scene early in the second half of Monday night’s home loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, the sixth straight game Davis has missed with a left calf strain.
Dumont, who attended his first game since the season-opening upset loss to the San Antonio Spurs, engaged in a friendly conversation with an 18-year-old man who was wearing Doncic’s gold No. 77 Lakers jersey.
That fan, whose family has season tickets a few rows behind Dumont’s stadium seats, told reporters that he approached Dumont at the request of his father to apologize for turning on him and cursing him late in the season-opening loss on Oct. 22. The fan told The Athletic newspaper that Dumont expressed his remorse over the Doncic deal.
Meanwhile, signs bearing Davis’ picture sat in many empty seats around the arena. “Make some noise!” Read the signs.
The fans made a huge noise and shouted “Fire Nico!” Cheers repeatedly throughout the fourth quarter.
Why did the Mavs fire Harrison now? Would they look to trade Davis? Here’s everything we know about the evolving situation in Dallas.
Why was Harrison fired now?
The situation in Dallas has reached an untenable point. Dumont has lost confidence in Harrison, as evidenced by the governor’s involvement in the decision to delay Davis’ return over the weekend, and his bias toward the Mavs’ medical staff’s desire not to risk aggravating the calf injury. The uncertainty hanging over Harrison loomed like a black cloud over the entire organization.
“It’s just a matter of time,” a league source told ESPN on Monday afternoon, hours before the Mavs blew a 13-point fourth-quarter lead in another loss.
Dumont decided overnight that there was no logical reason to wait. The franchise needs to move on now.
Dumont made this move in a message to the team’s fans on Tuesday.
“I understand the profound impact these difficult past few months have had,” Dumont’s letter said. “Please know that I am fully committed to the success of the Mavericks… Our goal is to bring winning basketball back to Dallas and winning championships.”
Patrick Dumont in a message to fans: “I understand the profound impact these difficult past few months have had. Please know that I am fully committed to the Mavericks’ success.” pic.twitter.com/MjqModl5QG
– Tim McMahon (@BannedMacMahon) November 11, 2025
What stands out most about the Mavs’ horrific start?
Other than the constant negativity that has commented on the franchise? It’s a very poor offense, which has a huge void in shot creation and playmaking.
“There’s a Luka-sized hole on that roster,” a Western Conference team executive said.
Dallas came out dead last in the league’s offensive efficiency rankings over the weekend. The Mavs now lead the injury-plagued Indiana Pacers, scoring just 104.2 points per 100 possessions.
Cade Flagg started at point guard, a position the 18-year-old had never played before at any level, for the first seven games of the season before that experiment was halted. Veteran D’Angelo Russell, who was signed this summer as a temporary fill-in for injured star Kyrie Irving, had three unsuccessful outings as a starter before Kidd went with Brandon Williams on Monday night.
“There’s no point guard. You don’t have a leader on the floor,” one Eastern Conference scout said. “That’s the first problem. Then you’re trying to make a guy who’s not a point guard a point guard.
“The manager doesn’t trust the guy I brought in this summer. That’s clear. They don’t trust him enough to make him a leader, and that’s in line with the consensus around the league. They don’t have shooting, they don’t have creation. These are the things you need to be a good attacking team.”
Dallas ranks last in the league in 3-pointers made (9.6 per game) and 3-point percentage (29.5%). The Mavs rank 27th in assists (27.7 per game). These shortcomings were to be expected, considering how much their roster construction is skewed toward forward-line players.
“It’s remarkable that Nico didn’t get a good goalie this summer so they can win some games,” said an executive at an Eastern Conference team. “That was low-hanging fruit.”
What is the general atmosphere inside the locker room?
The atmosphere at American Airlines Center was so miserable that the Mavs considered home court a playground The defect.
“These people don’t want us to win,” one player lamented, according to a team source.
The Mavs’ busy home schedule has made maintaining decent morale more difficult. Dallas is 2-5 at home, and while there haven’t been any altercations between players, maintaining decent morale has been difficult as the losses mount.
“For me, that’s the biggest I’ve lost since then, you know, I think,” Flagg said somberly after a Nov. 5 home loss to the New Orleans Pelicans that temporarily dropped Dallas to last place in the West.
Center Daniel Gafford admitted after Monday night’s loss that the fans’ continued focus “sometimes” on Harrison’s ejection was frustrating for the players.
“But we all know we have work to do,” Gafford said. “It’s going to be a long season trying to get a lot of fans back, eventually.”
What’s next with Anthony Davis?
The biggest question regarding Davis at this point isn’t when he will return from a calf strain. It comes down to whether the organization would consider exploring the trade market for the 32-year-old big man, something that was never a remote possibility with Harrison running basketball operations.
It’s a path that many executives and scouts from other franchises believe would make sense for the Mavs as Dallas focuses on prioritizing building around Flagg. The Mavs face built-in challenges in that mission due to giving up control of their first-round picks from 2027 through 2030 in trades made during Successfully Building a rival around Doncic.
“You have Flag, but you’re too old and you don’t have choices,” said one Western policymaker. “(They have to) be comfortable taking two steps back if that’s the necessary path. Be patient. They need to lose this year, but I don’t see Dumont being comfortable taking a step back. That’s not normal as a new owner.”
It’s uncertain what the trade market will be for Davis due to durability issues, though he remains a dominant force on both ends of the floor when healthy. Multiple league sources were adamant that gauging the market over the coming months is the due diligence Dallas must do, as it becomes clear that Harrison’s hopes for a three- to four-year competitive window will not come to fruition.
“You don’t follow two timelines anymore,” said an executive in the West. “You’re saying: ‘We’ll take what we can get (for Davis).’ “At this point, I’m not sure what they can get.”
What’s next for the Mavs front office?
Assistant general managers Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi were promoted to run the franchise’s basketball operations department on an interim basis.
Minority owner Mark Cuban, who incorrectly predicted he would continue to run the team’s basketball operations division when he sold a majority stake of the franchise to the Adelson and DuMont families in December 2023, has laid out a plan for the future of the front office. According to sources, Cuban hopes to hire Dennis Lindsay, the former Utah State vice president and general manager who is the second-highest-ranking member of the Detroit Pistons’ front office. Lindsay served as a senior advisor to the Mavs during the 2023-2024 season, when he had input on personnel moves that helped build the Finals roster around Doncic.
It is not known at this point how receptive Dumont will be to Cuban’s plan, but they have been in frequent dialogue in recent months, a significant change after Cuban was fired entirely from basketball operations last season and was blindsided by the Doncic trade. Coach Jason Kidd received a multi-year contract extension during the preseason after Dallas refused to give him permission to interview with the New York Knicks over the summer.
