Tim MacMahon, NBA analyst for ESPN, has told the story of Luka Doncic’s trade to the Los Angeles Lakers from the Dallas Mavericks.
An operation that had its internal germ 18 months earlier, when Nico Harrison decided to fire Casey Smith (Dirk Nowitzki’s trusted trainer) by videoconference while the Mavs’ director of health and performance was caring for his sick mother.
According to an internal Dallas source, Nico Harrison’s decision to fire Casey Smith was because “he felt totally threatened by him” and to show that no one could question his power.
Smith’s abrupt departure, which took Nowitzki away from the Mavs’ day-to-day operations, was followed by the firings of director of athletic performance Jeremy Holsopple and physiotherapist Casey Spangler in June, just days before Dallas’ participation in the NBA Finals.
“Over the last year you could already see that the team was going in a different direction. Now we are seeing the result,” Dirk Nowitzki said on the Campus 41 podcast.
Holsopple and Spangler were trusted professionals for Doncic, but for Harrison they were just “enablers” of the former Real Madrid player in Dallas.
The ones we brought in are better… My obligation is to the Dallas Mavericks,” Harrison justified.
ESPN claims that these decisions exacerbated the poor relationship between Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison and Doncic’s agents, Lara Beth Seager and Bill Duffy, and helped precipitate Luka’s trade.
The physical services breakdown that fractured the Mavericks from within
Nico Harrison bet on Johann Bilsborough and Keith Belton to take charge of the Mavericks’ physical preparation, two professionals with dubious basketball qualifications who never managed to earn the trust of either Doncic or his teammates.
Since his arrival, the number of injuries and physical ailments among Mavericks players increased. “The division created an unfortunate environment that, in the end, the players had to suffer,” a Mavs source shared.
Mavericks’ doubts over Luka Doncic’s fitness led to ‘deep division’
From the Dallas Mavericks organization, to justify Doncic’s trade to the Lakers, they tried to give an image of Luka as being out of shape, overweight, lazy and not taking care of his physical condition.
“You don’t perform like that… if you’re a fat, drunk pig”, reacted a friend of Doncic’s to put an end to these rumors.
ESPN reports that Nico Harrison was furious after learning that Luka Doncic showed up for preseason four kilos overweight.
Another point of tension was that the Mavericks’ management suspected that the wrist sprain diagnosed on November 20 was a ploy to cover up the Slovenian’s poor fitness.
The diagnosis of Doncic’s muscle problems, and Luka’s refusal to join a five-game road trip during his time off, also caused “a deep divide”.
Mark Cuban tried to mediate with Nico Harrison, but could not prevent Doncic’s trade to the Lakers
Mark Cuban, who has always protected and defended Doncic since his arrival in Dallas in 2018, tried to mediate between Harrison and Luka’s entourage… without success.
On February 1, 2025, it was officially confirmed that the Dallas Mavericks were trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, and shortly afterwards it was revealed that Nico Harrison had been secretly negotiating the deal for weeks.
