The Mavericks “truly began to disintegrate, along with the franchise’s culture,” 18 months before the Luka Doncic trade, according to sources cited by Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com. At that time, Mavs Dir/Health & Performance Casey Smith was informed that his services in Dallas “were no longer needed.” It was a “stunning first step” in Mavericks GM Nico Harrison’s overhaul of the team’s health and performance group over the past two offseasons. Sources said that the “frigid dynamic” between Doncic’s camp and Harrison and his new staff factored into the GM’s stunning decision to trade Doncic to the Lakers. Dysfunction between Harrison’s new hires became “problematic as the Mavs’ medical misfortune mounted throughout the season.” Sources said that Basketball HOFer Dirk Nowitzki “opted to no longer be involved in the inner workings of the franchise’s basketball operations after Smith’s forced exit.” Sources added that Smith’s ouster also “prompted the departure” of Mavs VP/Basketball Communications Scott Tomlin, another two-decade employee of the franchise who was close with Smith, among others. Sources said that as tensions “thickened between the GM and the increasingly alienated face of the franchise and his camp,” minority owner Mark Cuban “volunteered to serve as an intermediary.” But sources said Harrison had “succeeded in pushing Cuban completely out of basketball operations” since Patrick Dumont took over as the team’s governor and did not “want to cede any ground”
DMAGAZINE’s Kemp & Piellucci wrote while this season is “finally, mercifully over, the post-Luka Doncic era is only getting underway.” For Harrison, that “means optimism.” It is a full season of F Anthony Davis playing alongside C Dereck Lively and C Daniel Gafford in the two-big configuration that the Mavs believes “will deliver the championship glory Doncic couldn’t.” Kemp & Piellucci added nothing we have seen over the six weeks “offered proof to the contrary.” This is “still an aging team with a reckless general manager and zero control of its first-round picks from 2027 through 2030, when Dallas’ headlining trio will be past its collective sell-by date”
In Fort Worth, Mac Engel wrote Harrison will “not escape his YOLO deal that in ideal circumstances had a chance of succeeding in 2025 or 2026.” Year I of that plan “officially, and mercifully, ended on Friday night.” Engel: “They would/can never say it, but no NBA team needed their season to end more than the Mavs.” No NBA franchise “went through more this season than the Mavs; a team that began the season with the expectations of potentially returning to the Finals is now in the lottery, and they can only not blame themselves but their GM.” Dumont owns the Mavericks, but Harrison “runs the franchise.” Engel: “This roster is his. All of it.” The only way the Mavs “win” this trade is if they “win an NBA title with Davis, and Luka never does in L.A.” The Mavs “best chances to win that title with Davis was a three-year window, and that’s already busted”
