Mavericks writer buries Nico Harrison's disastrous Luka Doncic trade with one graphic

One year ago, the only team behind the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference standings was the Dallas Mavericks. The Mavs were thriving with their superstar Luka Doncic and a bunch of role players who complemented Doncic perfectly. Now, the team has taken a complete 180 and is standing near the bottom half of the conference, while Doncic is shining out in Los Angeles.

Kevin Gray Jr., a writer for DLLS Mavs, quietly gave fans a perfect perspective of how far down the bar has lowered for the Mavericks, and how the Los Angeles Lakers are riding the hot hand with Doncic being in serious discussion for the MVP award.

A reminder that was all thanks to none other than Nico Harrison, who used the defense excuse, along with several other rumors that Doncic was uncommitted to taking care of his body, to run him out of town. Doncic had the last laugh on a magazine front cover after transforming his body over the summer, which was almost exclusively a diss to Harrison. Either way, Gray Jr. puts into perspective how different 365 days can look. You're near the top of the world on one graphic, then you're fighting for your life on another.

Mavericks quickly went from NBA Finals dreams to starting over

This graphic describes Harrison's asinine move perfectly. Since the Doncic trade, Anthony Davis has played in fewer games than both Cooper Flagg and Quentin Grimes have played in just this season. The Mavericks turned into the laughingstock of the NBA after trading Doncic, as Davis got injured in his first game in Dallas, and everything else around them went wrong. They almost had to forfeit games because they didn't have enough eligible players.

Now, the Mavs might've had the unluckiest injury bug in NBA history last season, but that doesn't take away from showing what the Mavericks might've done with Doncic on the court. Doncic, at the time of the trade, was out with a calf injury that he suffered on Christmas Day, which kept him out of the lineup for over a month.

Let's not act like Mavs fans aren't excited about Cooper Flagg. After all, he's up there in the rookie record books with some of the biggest names in NBA history, and he's getting more confident every game with his driving and shooting.

Despite this, the Mavs already had an MVP player entering his prime in Doncic. They were set for a generation, and now, they have to reset their plans.

Players like Grimes, Klay Thompson, and Naji Marshall were brought in to be the primary role players to fit Doncic's style of offense. They didn't even get one season together thanks to Harrison. He helped turn the Lakers into monsters by gifting them one of the strongest duos in the league in Doncic and Austin Reaves.

All Harrison needed to do was wait until Doncic got healthy enough to get back on the court, but clearly, he had other plans in mind. It led to a PR nightmare for the Mavericks, and they eventually couldn't escape it. Harrison was fired after an awful start this season, mixed with "Fire Nico" chants for the last nine months.

Doncic led the playoffs in all major categories back in 2024, and it seemed like he finally got the pieces he needed to put everything together to copy what Dirk Nowitzki did in 2011 and win a title. That strong Mavs start from one year ago should've signaled that Harrison should've halted any private talks with Lakers GM Rob Pelinka to trade Doncic.

They had the pieces to go win the NBA Finals, but Harrison didn't see it that way.

The Mavs have something special to look forward to, but now, it's more of a long-term project, instead of being right there in the thick of the West as they were just 365 days ago.