Mavericks firing Nico Harrison would send them into chaos and they must avoid it

2025 will most likely go down as the worst year in Dallas Mavericks franchise history.

It seems like trading away Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving tearing his ACL, and the Mavericks missing out on the playoffs all within the same year after just being in the NBA Finals would be something written about in a fictional movie, but somehow it's all true and it's all real.

The one wish the majority of Mavericks fans want to come true is for Nico Harrison to get fired as soon as possible. The only issue with that is that this could cause a full rebuild without giving the current roster a chance to contend for a title.

The Mavericks shouldn't fire Nico Harrison just yet

Not only was trading away a 25-year-old superstar in Doncic absurd, but only receiving Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and one first-round pick in return was even more ludicrous. On top of that, Harrison traded away an up-and-coming star role player in Quentin Grimes for Caleb Martin a few days after he traded Doncic.

Harrison also had the chance to veto the Grimes trade after figuring out more details about Martin's injury, but ultimately chose to stick with his decision and take the injury-prone player in Martin over Grimes.

Day after day, fans are continuously wondering when Patrick Dumont, the Mavericks' governor, will decide to pull the plug on the Harrison experience. Although it's needed, it might not be that simple for Dumont and ownership to do so without having to go into a complete rebuild.

The Mavericks' star duo of Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis each holds a great relationship with Nico Harrison. It could be a possibility that Dumont is trying to maximize Irving and Davis' time in Dallas before he throws Harrison to the curb.

When Irving first got traded to Dallas he spoke with Rashad Miller at Dallas Weekly and described his relationship with Harrison: "Man, it goes back years with Nico Harrison… seeing me in high school, seeing the potential that I had and being a part of one of the greatest brands in the world, so it was a matchup that was made way in the past… a relationship that was made to grow and that’s all we’re doing now. I feel like I’m in a different place in my life at thirty years old [and] he’s in a different place being the GM, now we can unite and do some great things hopefully in the future."

Irving has a player-option this summer, meaning that he could either opt in to his contract or opt out of his contract and enter free agency to demand more money. With Doncic being gone, Irving most certainly will have leverage to request a bigger and better contract. On the other hand, the Mavericks could easily create their own leverage due to the fact that Irving will miss the majority of the regular season due to his ACL injury.

The most understandable outcome of this would be for Irving to opt out and align his contract with Davis, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent in 2028.

Irving, who had a poor reputation while he was with the Brooklyn Nets, has been able to truly show the kind and genuine person he is since he got to Dallas. Partially, that's also due to the fact that Harrison and Jason Kidd have been so welcoming to him since he arrived.

It wouldn't be too crazy to think Dumont wouldn't want to fire Harrison and jeopardize Irving's time in Dallas before a new contract is signed. Although this sounds crazy, the NBA is a business, and if there's anything Mavericks fans have learned in the past few months, anything can happen.

For Davis, it's a similar story to Irving's. Harrison, who spent almost 20 years at Nike, has known Davis since he started watching him play at Nike camps when he was in high school.

Davis has a great relationship with Harrison, Kidd, and former teammate and now assistant coach, Jared Dudley.

If Dumont were to fire Harrison now, it could easily create a scenario in which Davis would request a trade to hit the restart button for himself after receiving a rough welcome in Dallas due to all of the drama that came with the Doncic trade.

Irving and Davis have both openly spoken about the excitement of playing with each other, but that could all change with Harrison not being in the picture.

Now, this is all hypothetical, but with the past few months being very hectic in Dallas, fans have to be prepared for any possible outcome. It's clear that Harrison's nonstop mistakes should have earned him a one-way ticket out of Dallas, but if they fired him now, that could make their current situation even worse.