It only took 1 day into 2026 for Nico Harrison's trade blunder to haunt Mavericks

The Dallas Mavericks were hit with a sore reminder of last season’s trade deadline blunder from Nico Harrison on the first day of 2026, as Quentin Grimes played great on both ends of the floor en route to helping the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Mavericks 123-108. Meanwhile, Caleb Martin was practically a no-show in four minutes in the game, which has been a microcosm of Martin’s time in Dallas.

Grimes has lit up Dallas in two performances at American Airlines Center since coming back as a 76er, totaling 47 points. For comparison, Martin has only scored 64 points in 21 total home games for Dallas, which goes to show just how much of an abomination this trade was by Harrison. He even traded the greater of two second-round picks to Philadelphia to get Martin, yet Martin has now turned into one of the worst contracts in the entire association.

Martin’s strong suit has always been on the defensive side of the ball, but he’s at least been competent offensively through his career until he got to Dallas. Martin is shooting 35.4 percent from the field and 14.3 percent from outside, with an average of 9.8 minutes per game this season.

Mavs painfully reminded of Grimes-Martin swap just a day into New Year

Due to his offensive game seemingly abandoning him in Dallas and being hard-pressed to score at any of the three levels, he’s only been inserted into the lineup when Dallas needs some extra juice at the point of attack.

Martin looks hesitant and indecisive offensively, which makes him very hard to play in the modern NBA. Mavericks fans know all too well that Grimes has become a true three-level scorer with the 76ers, and he isn’t giving up much defensively compared to Martin either.

Grimes clearly sees blood in the water every time he plays Dallas, making it even clearer why Harrison should’ve extended Grimes over Jaden Hardy, or just waited out Grimes’ restricted free agency, given he eventually just took the qualifying offer from the 76ers.

The Mavericks have been slipping heavily recently, as they sit at 12-23 following their loss to the 76ers. It’s a strenuous mental exercise to envision how much better Dallas would be if they simply swapped out Martin for Grimes, as Grimes has proven he can be a volume scorer in a starting role, and is only coming off the bench because of how deep Philadelphia’s guard depth is.

This game was a harsh reminder of what can happen when you unnecessarily trade away blossoming young role players in the NBA, as Grimes still has star potential, only being 25 years old, while the Mavericks could have to hold onto dead money in Martin’s contract for the next few seasons.

If Martin’s offense was even remotely decent, perhaps this trade would be seen in a slightly different light, but it may have been an even worse value proposition by Harrison compared to the Luka Doncic trade as things currently stand.