Nico Harrison's embarrassingly reckless hire almost cost young Maverick his career

Since the Dallas Mavericks' season ended with a blowout loss to the Memphis Grizzlies in the Play-In Tournament, fans and players have turned their focus to the offseason. Not only will Dallas need to ace this year's draft with the 11th-best odds of landing the No. 1 overall pick, but they will also be asked to turn last year's hardships into a thing of the past with a retooled roster.

While the offseason has only begun for the Mavericks, they held an end-of-season presser earlier this week where Nico Harrison would be present for the first time for all of the local media since the fallout of the Luka Doncic trade on February 1.

Harrison not only validated how fans have felt with some insensitive takes, such as not understanding how much Doncic meant to the fan base, but recent reports have exposed what has gone down behind closed doors, and the Mavericks may be closer to Harrison's dismissal than fans realize. While Harrison leaving the Mavs would be a step in the right direction, a recent article from Tim MacMahon of ESPN exposed one of Harrison's most questionable hirings over his entire tenure with the Mavs.

After questionably firing former Mavericks director of health and performance Casey Smith on a video call while he was visiting his ill mother, Harrison would replace him with Johann Bilsborough and an underqualified Keith Belton. Belton not only didn't meet the requirements to be an NBA athletic trainer, but Harrison's negligence nearly cost Dereck Lively II's NBA career due to an unbelievably bad injury situation.

Harrison's gamble on unqualified trainer nearly derailed Lively II's career

As exposed in MacMahon's recent article on Dallas' situation, Harrison hired Belton, knowing he didn't meet the requirements to be an athletic trainer at the professional level. Not only is this reckless in nature on behalf of Harrison, but it nearly cost one of Dallas' brightest young players his career.

After what the Mavericks thought was Lively II spraining his ankle the week prior, Lively II was questionable to make his return to the lineup on January 20 against the Charlotte Hornets, but needed to go through an intense pregame workout under Belton's supervision before being allowed to play. While Lively II never suited up against the Hornets, he was set to make his return to the floor at home two days later

In between the time of Lively II's intense pre-game workout and the flight back to Dallas, Bilsborough grew concerned that the 20-year-old's ankle may not just be an ankle sprain. With this in mind, Bilsborough recommended a CT scan, where it was discovered Lively II had a stress fracture in his right ankle.

It was never just a sprain.

Stress fractures may be hard to diagnose, but the fact that Lively II almost played in an NBA game on a broken ankle is a testament to how clueless Belton was in dealing with an injury of this magnitude. Thankfully, Lively II rehabbed for the allotted time, but playing on a stress-fractured ankle could have easily cost the fan-favorite center his career, as he has already been banged up over the first two seasons in the NBA.

While Harrison has had his fair share of problems over the last few months, knowing the details it took to hire Bilsborough and Belton and fire Smith, he should easily lose his job. This may just be another story that gets swept under the rug over the offseason, but Harrison's lack of awareness shouldn't go unnoticed.

It's unclear what the true intentions of Smith's dismissal were in 2023, other than that Harrison wanted more power, but the beloved trainer has gone on to make the New York Knicks one of the healthiest teams in the NBA. With Smith back in Dallas, this whole situation would probably have never happened due to his level of expertise around the league.