NBA rumors: Laundry list of Nico Harrison's negative Luka Doncic beliefs emerges

Yesterday at 05:54 PM

Just over a week ago, the Dallas Mavericks shook up the NBA landscape by trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for a package centered around Anthony Davis. Mavericks fans were quick to vilify team general manager Nico Harrison, who was the mastermind behind the deal which was one of the most shocking moves in NBA history.

Much has been made about Harrison’s alleged motives for moving on from the future Hall of Famer, with questions about Doncic’s conditioning and durability coming to the forefront.

Now, NBA insider Marc Stein is shedding additional light on exactly what went into Harrison’s decision.

Evidently, Harrison and the Mavericks were considered that Doncic “would not improve his commitment to conditioning or his off-court dietary discipline… would not improve as a leader or culture-setter…Would not improve his well-chronicled comportment issues with referees…  and Would not be able to stay healthy as he got older… and thus could not, after the Mavericks and Dončić grappled with these issues since Harrison arrived in June 2021, be given the five-year supermax deal worth nearly $350 million that he was expecting in July,” Stein reported on his Substack.

A shocking decision

To be sure, there were legitimate questions about Luka Doncic’s conditioning, his volatile relationship at times with NFL referees, and injury history, which was growing so far this season.

However, there is no precedent in NBA history for a team trading its 25 year-old franchise cornerstone, fresh off of an appearance in the NBA Finals, even for a player as great as Anthony Davis.

The fact that the Mavericks parted ways with Doncic before the New Orleans Pelicans moved on from Zion Williamson or the Houston Rockets with Jalen Green is truly shocking, and it would appear that the only way Dallas could possibly justify this decision is by winning the NBA Finals this season, and potentially next year as well.

The good news for Mavericks fans is that the team they have now figures to be a defensive juggernaut with plenty of offensive firepower in Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving. However, whether that was worth trading a future decade of prosperity with Doncic is highly questionable at best.

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