Mavericks' controversial Nico Harrison replacement is already dividing fans

The best news for fans of the Dallas Mavericks came when Patrick Dumont made the call to fire Nico Harrison this morning. After a horrendous start to the 2024-25 season, it became clear that Harrison had completely lost the fanbase. Not to mention, former Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic is averaging nearly 40 points a game, and Anthony Davis has been injured more often than not. This is exactly what Mavs fans feared after the Doncic trade, and everything that could possibly go wrong after the trade has.

With Harrison gone, that brings in Matt Riccardi and Michael Finley to be the co-interim general managers of the Mavericks. Fans are still iffy about Finley as a general manager, partially because of his behavior following the 2024 Western Conference Finals. Finley took away Doncic's victory beer in the locker room during a locker room celebration with his team.

This rubbed fans the wrong way, and all Doncic was trying to do was celebrate what the Mavs hadn't done in 13 years. Getting rid of Harrison is a start. Harrison really should've been fired after he proposed to trade Doncic, period. There were many ways to keep Doncic going as a Maverick, and Harrison didn't want to do that. Now, fans may be skeptical of Finley partially taking over as a GM.

Michael Finley's new GM role already has fans uneasy

Doncic's time as a Maverick may have slowly come to an end, but there were signs. The longtime trainer, Casey Smith, was fired, along with his first GM, Donnie Nelson. Doncic started complaining about the Mavs firing everybody he liked, and it was only a ticking time bomb between Doncic and the Mavs.

Finley taking away Doncic's beer wasn't taken lightly by Mavs fans. Loads of fans were concerned about why Doncic couldn't celebrate after such an accomplishment. The team's image was apparently the Mavs' main concern. We've seen players celebrate all the time in locker rooms after championship wins, so for Doncic to be drinking one beer over a week before the NBA Finals tip-off isn't a concern to most.

Many Mavericks fans also view Finley as a yes man, especially since he worked alongside Harrison for a while, but time will tell how he fares in his new role.

This isn't to say that things are worse under Finley. With no Harrison, they should be in a position to get back on with the fanbase. The atmosphere in arenas was far worse at home, especially with Harrison in the stands. The "Fire Nico" chants at last night's game were pretty much the kiss of death for the now former GM of the Dallas Mavericks, so we can expect some fans to come back after it was reported that the Mavericks' 24-year home sellout came to an end.

This was unusual to see, given that the fanbase has been incredibly loyal to the team since opening up the American Airlines Center. The attendance at the AAC was notably empty on the upper deck for the Milwaukee Bucks game, and it shows that the decision to fire Harrison was only a matter of time.

Finley taking over as an interim is the answer for now, and maybe not a long-term answer. That would probably be OK, as many Mavs fans are already pushing to bring in Dennis Lindsey as the permanent GM. Fans like Riccardi, as he's been a face of the DFW area for almost his entire life, but for Finley, fans are still off about him since the 2024 Western Conference Finals.