Not even Cooper Flagg can save Nico Harrison from Mavericks fans' relentless wrath

Dallas Mavericks fans can finally breathe a sigh of relief today, as Cooper Flagg is officially a Maverick. Flagg is a generational talent, winning the Wooden Award for best men's college basketball player despite being the youngest player eligible for the award.

Despite this victory, Mavs fans still have a bitter taste in their mouth. After the Luka Doncic trade, Dallas and NBA fans led perhaps the largest public firing campaign in sports history. At today's Draft watch party in the American Airlines Center, fans led yet another "Fire Nico" chant while the Mavs were on the clock to select Flagg, showing the irreparable damage Nico Harrison has left on the fanbase.

While fans probably would never forgive Harrison for trading Doncic, Dallas has to make a public decision regarding the disgraced GM. Harrison's resume as General Manager is lackluster at best, yet his close relationships with Mavericks stars Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis likely influenced the Mavericks' choice to retain Harrison heading into next season.

Mavericks want Nico Harrison to be fired now, even after Flagg pick

Nico Harrison's experience with Nike basketball provides him with a wealth of personal connections that have proved to be advantageous. Irving, despite being one of the all-time great shot creators, gave no indication that he was considering entering free agency. Irving also signed for less than his maximum contract extension allowed, showing a willingness to take less money rather than searching for a max deal from another destination.

Temporarily retaining Harrison made sense so that Irving would re-sign with the Mavs. However, now that Irving is returning to Dallas, the Mavericks need to move on from Harrison.

Harrison has disappointed Mavs fans time and time again, from letting Jalen Brunson walk to hiring an unqualified training staff to trading Doncic for peanuts. While Harrison has had good moments, such as the moves made at the 2024 trade deadline, he simply is not qualified for his role, and his repeated mistakes prove this.

The decision to hire Harrison was a shock across the league. General Managers almost always have prior experience working in an NBA front office, or at least the front office of a basketball team. Harrison had never worked for a basketball team prior to being hired as GM, and he was hired due to his wealth of connections with stars like Irving.

Mavs Governor Patrick Dumont has an important yet simple decision ahead of him. He must fire Harrison before he is allowed to make another crucial mistake. The Mavericks have a short window of championship contention before Davis and Irving decline with age. The decisions made this offseason to balance the team will determine whether the Doncic trade is remembered as a mistake or a disaster.

Harrison has extremely destructive tendencies as a GM, the most glaring being his utter disregard for the future of the organization. He has stated publicly that he does not care about the future past five years, as he thinks he will not be on the Mavs staff past the near future. Nobody will ever know why Harrison publicly said this, but Dumont and the decision makers in the Mavericks front office should listen to Harrison.

If Harrison is retained, expect the outcry from fans to increase, even with Flagg coming to town.