Kyrie Irving's heartfelt message to Doncic proves Harrison made all-time mistake

As we trek closer and closer to the NBA trade deadline, it's needless to say that the last four days have been some of the oddest in Dallas Mavericks franchise history. Fans are scrambling trying to keep up with all the information coming out about why Nico Harrison decided to trade Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis, and this is all happening while the Mavericks are in the midst of a tough stretch of games ahead of the All-Star break.

The Mavericks and Harrison made yet another trade earlier today, as Dallas swapped Quentin Grimes and a 2025 second-round pick for Caleb Martin before last night's 118-116 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. Dallas and their management made this trade while in Philadelphia, which allowed both players to make their transition to their new organizations more seamless.

This is the least the Mavericks could do based on the harsh way in which they decided to trade their franchise superstar in Doncic, and players and notable people around the league won't turn a blind eye when it comes to Harrison's lack of professionalism in Doncic's exit. Doncic's former co-star in Kyrie Irving had the first opportunity to comment on this move to the media since it happened on Saturday, as Irving spoke postgame following his return to the court against the 76ers where he scored 34 points and had nine rebounds on 11-21 shooting from the field.

Harrison traded Kyrie Irving's 'hermano' by sending Doncic out

"Just really shocked and you just don’t imagine you’re going to get ready to go to sleep and then you find out news like that," Irving said. "It’s still a grieving process right now. I miss my hermano."

This quote from Irving highlights the raw emotion of seeing one of his best friends who he's gone through countless intense regular season and playoff battles with leave, and it's clear that Irving still hasn't fully recovered from this trade just like nearly all of Dallas' fanbase. Harrison's comments on Sunday made it seem like Doncic didn't add to the team's culture, but Irving's sentiments directly contradict this, as Irving is the leader, heart, and soul of this Mavericks team.

There could definitely be potential negative ripple effects with Doncic's trade when it comes to Irving's contract this coming summer, as Irving has the ability to decline a player option north of $40 million if he wishes to. Irving has talked about how much he loves the city of Dallas and how the organization treats their players, but Harrison's shocking ploy to trade Doncic wasn't emblematic of a front office that displays loyalty to their superstar players, and this may have Irving feeling some sort of way even if he doesn't voice it to the media.

Despite Irving's emotional farewell to Doncic, he carried himself in a professional manner in postgame interviews still, and still carried forth the notion that he's focused on being the leader of this team and helping bring them a championship. If things go haywire quickly with this situation though, Harrison's decision to trade Doncic could easily cause Irving to exit the door during this offseason or the next.

The Mavericks would assuredly love to keep Irving around for however long they possibly can, even if his production starts to decline slightly and he graduates to a more of a secondary playmaker throughout the back half of his career. This move by Harrison wasn't just a move that jeopardized Dallas' future, but was one that was risky enough to backfire hard enough to where the Mavericks may have to blow their entire team up again this offseason.

Hopefully that isn't the case and the pairing of Irving, Davis, and potentially another piece before Thursday's trade deadline could take this Mavericks team to new heights, but things are looking extremely bleak in that department unless Dallas turns this ship around dramatically.