Nico Harrison is set to botch the Mavericks' biggest no-brainer this summer

The Dallas Mavericks are stuck in mediocre purgatory over the next 19 games of their regular season, as they likely won't intentionally lose games in hopes of securing a top lottery pick in this year's NBA Draft after their season has been thrown off entirely due to multiple injuries as well as Luka Doncic getting traded on February 1.

The Mavericks could still get their big man core back before the regular season ends, though the notion that they should rush Anthony Davis or any of their other players back from injury is a flawed one, as this Mavericks roster only has so much to give if they somehow make the playoffs. Dallas will inevitably drop some games over this stretch to close the regular season, but just how badly they play once some role players trickle back into the lineup upon return from injury is the true question at hand.

If the Mavericks are lucky, perhaps the Phoenix Suns or San Antonio Spurs will catch them in the standings and make the play-in, so the Mavericks can start focusing on the NBA Draft as well as getting everyone on their team fully healthy (barring Kyrie Irving) and geared up for next season. However, with as much adversity as the Mavericks have endured this season, they are going to keep fighting until the end of the regular season, and head coach Jason Kidd's next-man-up approach won't change.

Only time will tell how Dallas closes the season or if they end up getting lucky in the NBA Draft Lottery, but Harrison's decision to trade Doncic is a fireable offense considering how botched this move has been through one month and some change, even if Patrick Dumont and the Mavericks likely won't fire Harrison quite yet because of how early in the process post-trade this is.

Harrison can't afford to let Washington and Gafford walk

With Mavericks fans' faith in Harrison and this organization seemingly out the window, Harrison's next ill-fated move could come as soon as free agency begins this summer. Two players Harrison traded for at the 2023 trade deadline, in P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford, will be extension eligible this summer, and recent rumors would indicate that there's absolutely no certainty Harrison will sign these two players to contract extensions.

In a recent piece by Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, Scotto revealed Harrison reportedly included Washington and Gafford in trade talks for Jimmy Butler this past trade deadline. Clearly those talks didn't materialize, and they were exploratory talks, but Harrison's willingness to move on from anyone he deems fit shouldn't be undermined after the Doncic trade, and there's truly no other move he could make that would be as diabolical as the Doncic trade has been.

The fact that he included Washington and Gafford in these early talks shows that he is willing to move them, and it wouldn't be a shock if they didn't extend one or both of them. There were even rumors that Dallas was shopping Gafford at the trade deadline last season, and Mavericks fans should be ready for anything this summer.

Scotto also reported that Washington and Gafford's management teams are both poised to engage in extension talks with the Mavericks this summer, and while it is blatantly obvious to most Mavericks fans that Dallas should do anything in their power to retain both of these near All-Defensive caliber frontcourt players who are both only 26 years old, this wouldn't be the first time Harrison is reluctant to hand out contract extensions.

Harrison opted not to give a contract extension to Quentin Grimes before this season started, and he ended up trading Grimes for less than he's worth to preserve future flexibility instead of paying him this offseason, which is turning out to be another horrendous move. With Harrison's window in Dallas to win only being the next handful of seasons per him, it makes no sense why he is so concerned with future financial flexibility, and he clearly is fine with exercising his power to do anything that aligns with his vision of what building a successful franchise means.

Gafford and Washington are both on the precipice of their prime, and they are both part of whatever semblance of a future Mavs fans can fathom for this team beyond the next few seasons considering they are able to reach contract extension agreements with Dallas this summer, but it wouldn't be shocking at all to see Harrison try and trade them for a more "win-now" move this summer instead of paying them the money they've rightfully earned for this Mavericks team.

As much as the aftermath of this Doncic move has wrecked the Mavericks' fanbase and the city of Dallas, fans can only prepare for the worst from a front office perspective so long as Harrison is still running the basketball operations of this squad, and fans shouldn't put it past him that he would make this absolute blunder of a decision this summer despite everything they have already went through.