The man Nico Harrison tried to cut off from the Dallas Mavericks’ inner circle has come back to haunt him.
According to Dallas-based NBA insider Marc Stein, former Mavericks majority owner Mark Cuban met privately with new team owner Patrick Dumont on the eve of Harrison’s firing — a symbolic reunion that effectively ended Harrison’s reign as general manager.
Cuban Meets With Dumont Before Harrison’s Firing
Stein reported Tuesday on The Stein Line that Dumont arrived unusually early at the American Airlines Center before the Mavericks’ home game against the Milwaukee Bucks, where “Fire Nico” chants once again echoed through the arena.
“During a fall-from-ahead loss Monday night to the Milwaukee Bucks, Harrison was actually subjected to only a few fourth-quarter strains of the ‘Fire Nico’ chant that has become so commonplace in Mavsland since the spring,” Stein wrote. “But league sources tell The Stein Line that a decision had essentially already been made by that point.”
Stein added that Dumont met behind closed doors pregame with both team president Rick Welts and Cuban, and scheduled follow-up meetings the next day “to end Harrison’s reign and to inform players personally about the timing of the change.”
The meeting marked a surprising twist in the relationship between Cuban and the new ownership group — and a dramatic turn for the Mavericks, who have stumbled to a 3-8 start this season.
Fallout From the Luka Dončić Trade
Harrison’s fall from grace can be traced directly to his most controversial decision as GM: the blockbuster trade that sent Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers in February.
Cuban, who was still part of the Mavericks organization in a limited capacity after selling his majority stake to Dumont and the Adelson family, said the deal blindsided him.
“I thought [Harrison] was asking me what I thought, and I realized very quickly he was telling me what happened,” Cuban said on the Dallas Mavericks podcast after the trade. “And I told him I didn’t agree with it… But it wasn’t my decision to make.”
Cuban admitted he made a critical mistake when structuring the sale of the franchise. Though there was a handshake agreement that he would remain in control of basketball operations, NBA rules made it clear that the team governor — in this case, Dumont — held final authority.
“There were some things that happened internally where the person who traded Luka didn’t want me there,” Cuban said later on The All-In podcast. “So they won, I lost. Yeah, I [expletive] up.”
From Finals Run to Front Office Chaos
When Cuban sold the team in late 2023, Harrison was seen as a rising front-office star — a “basketball savant,” according to ESPN’s Shams Charania — credited with bold acquisitions of Kyrie Irving, P.J. Washington, Derrick Jones Jr., and the drafting of Dereck Lively II that helped the Mavericks reach the 2024 NBA Finals.
But Charania also reported that the Dončić trade was Harrison’s idea, one that he successfully convinced Dumont to approve. The move quickly backfired.
As the team stumbled and fan outrage grew, attendance at Mavericks home games dropped, and chants of “Fire Nico” became a nightly occurrence.
Cuban’s Subtle Hand in Harrison’s Exit
Ironically, Cuban — the man who hired Harrison in 2021 — is believed to have played an indirect role in his firing. Once cut out of basketball decisions under the Dumont regime, Cuban’s quiet return to the building ahead of Harrison’s ouster signaled that his influence in Dallas might not be completely gone.
Harrison’s dismissal caps off a chaotic stretch for the Mavericks, who are dealing with a string of injuries: Anthony Davis remains out with a calf strain, while Irving continues to recover from ACL surgery.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Dončić has been thriving, leading the Lakers to an 8-3 start despite LeBron James missing time due to sciatica. The contrast has only deepened frustration in Dallas.
A Franchise at a Crossroads
For Dumont and the Mavericks, the challenge now is twofold: restore stability to a fractured front office and decide whether to continue building around Davis, the centerpiece from the Dončić trade who has struggled to stay healthy, or pivot toward a long-term rebuild.
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