Mavericks' explosive Nico Harrison firing comes with silver lining he'll hate

The 2025-26 Dallas Mavericks season continues to be a rough one. All the energy surrounding Cooper Flagg's NBA debut was ruined when the San Antonio Spurs blew out the Mavericks on their home floor. Now, the Mavericks are at the bottom of the Western Conference with a 3-8 record.

Of course, most of the blame for the Mavericks this season is falling on Nico Harrison. The "fire Nico" chants and hatred for the Mavericks' general manager weren't going away. Now, they will peel off a little as Patrick Dumont finally pulled the plug and fired him on Tuesday morning.

The chances that the Mavericks were going to fire Harrison were looming as of late; now it's finally happened. The fan base will be happy to see Harrison gone. With Harrison now fired, the chances of Harrison getting another general manager job in the NBA are very unlikely.

The Luka Doncic trade destroyed Nico Harrison's credibility forever

It's simple why Harrison may never get another general manager job: how can teams trust him after the Luka Doncic trade and the fall of the Mavericks in 2025?

Dallas was playing in the 2024 NBA Finals. Now, the Mavericks are nowhere close to being in the NBA Finals with how Harrison has controlled the team since the Finals loss. He has made mistake after mistake, and he'll never hear the end of how badly things have gone since.

Trading away Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers is still talked about every day. It wasn't just the fact that the Mavericks traded away Doncic, who led them to the Finals; it was the return the Mavericks received, which is still a head-scratcher to many people.

While Anthony Davis is an elite player, his health is always an issue. Davis has missed games already this season due to a calf injury, and there's something about receiving Davis in the trade that is still insane to think about. He is not even close to being in the same basketball stratosphere as Doncic, but Harrison still decided to make the move.

The fact that the Mavericks only got one first-round draft pick included with Davis is still absurd, considering recent blockbuster trades around the NBA have had multiple first-round draft picks included. Two recent examples are the trades the Brooklyn Nets made involving Kevin Durant and Mikal Bridges.

Doncic's Lakers career has taken off big this season. With how Doncic has played as a Laker and how Davis has played as a Maverick, it makes the trade look so much worse on Harrison's part.

Harrison has admitted in the past that he's a stubborn guy. NBA owners can be heavily concerned that if they were to hire Harrison, he could trade a superstar player on the roster and get a return that isn't that good because of his stubbornness.

Sure, Harrison did draft Flagg with the first overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. But every general manager would've drafted Flagg if their team won the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery. So, saying that Harrison drafted Flagg seems like an irrelevant thing to say when trying to defend him.

During last night's loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, Maverick fans continued to voice their displeasure at Harrison by chanting "fire Nico" in the fourth quarter. Now, Maverick fans get their wish with Harrison fired at last.