Mavericks fans are going to hate this new Nico Harrison-Luka Doncic trade rumor

While Nico Harrison has been removed from the Dallas Mavericks' front office since November, the repercussions of his decision to trade Luka Doncic are still weighing down on the Mavericks to this day. In fact, it appears rival front offices are still skeptical about whether Harrison acted alone in his decision to deal Doncic, as a piece from NBA insider Marc Stein delved into this recently (subscription required).

"In rival front offices, though, no shortage of skepticism has greeted the version presented at the team's press conference in Cleveland on the morning after Dallas agreed to terms with the Lakers that Harrison kept the trade from the organization's other key stakeholders apart from Dumont until "the 11th hour," Stein wrote.

With as much of an earthquake as Harrison hit the NBA and the Mavericks with on February 1 last year, it makes sense why opposing teams can't even fathom the fact that Harrison acted completely alone in trading Doncic, as teams never make moves of that magnitude without consulting other members of their front office.

Rival front offices finding it hard to believe Harrison acted alone in trade

However, there's still no evidence to suggest Dallas' other front office members knew about the trade, as Harrison has been adamant over this being a trade that needed the utmost secrecy to go down, which honestly makes the most sense considering other members in Dallas' front office likely would've shown some backlash to him if he presented it.

While rival front offices may be bamboozled that Harrison didn't discuss the trade with head coach Jason Kidd or anyone else besides Patrick Dumont at the final hour, this serves as one of the only plausible solutions as to how Harrison pulled this trade off. However, the Mavericks better hope and pray that nothing ever gets leaked in terms of Kidd, Michael Finley, Matt Riccardi, or any other person in Dallas' upper brass knowing about the trade beforehand.

Though it appears unlikely Kidd knew, as Harrison left him to dry, and it's hard to believe Kidd would've advocated trading Doncic for the return package Dallas got.

This would be damning to the credibility of Dallas' front office, even if Harrison is no longer employed by the team, and it may even jeopardize the job security of someone in the front office if it gets leaked they worked in conjunction with Harrison on the Doncic trade. This is all wild speculation, of course, as the more likely outcome than not is that Harrison acted alone with Rob Pelinka to get the deal done, but rival front offices definitely have a right to be skeptical over this process.

If anyone else did know about the trade beforehand, it's more likely than not that nothing will be leaked until they are no longer employed by the Mavericks, as the organization will do anything in its power to put the PR nightmare that was the Doncic trade into the rearview mirror.

Harrison has already been condemned heavily by likely never working in the NBA again following this deal, and while all signs point to him being a sole operator in this instance, other front office members may draw the same fate as him if it comes out they were in favor of the Doncic trade and subsequent return package.