Glaring Luka Doncic trade detail makes Nico Harrison look like the villain once again

With July coming to a close, most of what has been going on for the Dallas Mavericks this summer up to this point has been overall positives, as Cooper Flagg impressed through two games at Summer League in Las Vegas, and Dallas signed D'Angelo Russell to serve as a stopgap point guard until Kyrie Irving returns from injury.

Not to mention, Dallas nailed the Daniel Gafford extension this summer and also re-signed Dante Exum, yet recent photos and an article from Men's Health over Luka Doncic getting into far improved physical shape this summer have been dominating the discussion online amongst Mavs fans as August approaches. Fans are especially heated after Doncic's inner circle disclosed to The Athletic that he planned on taking his physical training extremely seriously this summer, regardless if he was traded or not.

While things have been going good for the Mavericks this summer up to this point, general manager Nico Harrison must understand he will never escape the wrath from the Doncic trade, as this will continue to be an ongoing saga until Doncic either leaves the Lakers or gets to a point in his career where he is no longer a superstar. The magnitude of what Harrison did on largely his own volition cannot be underscored, and it's even worse that his main reason for trading Doncic is getting more and more redundant as time goes on.

Doncic was getting fit regardless, so why did Harrison still trade him?

Harrison's main reason for trading Doncic was because he never maintained ideal physical shape since Harrison arrived in 2021, and everyone and their mother knew that Harrison was making a massive bet Doncic would never be able to get to this level throughout the course of his career by shipping him to LA for a package that wasn't compensatory enough in return.

While it was already assumed Doncic would do everything in his power to get in peak physical shape this season after the fallout from the trade, this detail from his inner circle proves he was going to get into this type of shape this offseason even if he was still on the Mavericks, as it completely wrecks Harrison's reasoning for trading him in the first place.

Unless Doncic's team never communicated to Harrison about this proposition in the first place (the two sides weren't necessarily in lockstep with each other), then this is just blatant ignorance on Harrison's part. Barring Harrison having some crystal ball that can tell him the future, there's no reason to part ways with a 25-year-old generational talent, regardless of whether he's had trouble staying at an idealistic playing weight because of his consumption habits, especially if Doncic was truly going to try and stick in shape following this offseason.

Doncic's new body this offseason is the exact type of emergence Harrison was betting would never happen, and Harrison will continue to be knocked anytime Doncic torches the Mavericks or his improved shape is highlighted by when he gets a dunk or block, for instance. Doncic may never be an all-world athlete, but Mavericks fans don't have to open the vault too far to see how differently he moved on the court during his first two seasons in the league, and now Doncic could have that same athletic pop and with even more savvy offensively, but fans will unfortunately have to witness him do this in a Lakers uniform going forward thanks to Harrison.