According to NBA insider Grant Afseth of DallasHoopsJournal, Patrick Dumont and Luka Doncic had a negative interaction a few weeks before the Dallas Mavericks traded Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Dumont told Nico Harrison he could trade Doncic after that negative interaction.
“But it was Harrison who pursued the deal with conviction, and it was Dumont who gave him the green light,” Afseth wrote. “Sources informed DallasHoopsJournal.com that among the factors that led Dumont to provide the green light was an interaction he had with Dončić, focused on addressing perceived conditioning concerns. This occurred before Harrison initiated trade talks for Dončić at his coffee meeting with Pelinka in Dallas before the Mavericks faced the Lakers on Jan. 7. As one might expect, that interaction involving Dončić and Dumont did not go well. Weeks later, Dončić was traded, with a heavy run of media leaks emphasizing conditioning to follow.”
Dumont and Harrison were not happy with Doncic’s conditioning. Harrison targeted Anthony Davis in the Doncic trade since he has known the Chicago native for a long time.
Doncic appeared in 422 games with the Mavericks. He averaged 28.6 points, 8.7 rebounds and 8.3 assists and made five All-Star teams and five All-NBA teams. Dallas lost to the Boston Celtics in the 2025 NBA Finals.
The Mavericks missed the playoffs this year. During a closed-door media session last week, Harrison told reporters he doesn’t regret trading Doncic, who wanted to spend his entire career in Dallas.
“Yeah, there’s no regrets on the trade,” Harrison said. “Part of my job is to do the best thing for the Mavericks, not only today, but also in the future. And some of the decisions I’m going to make are going to be unpopular, and that’s my job, and I have to stand by it. And one last thing, also add, every trade I’ve done has been met with high scrutiny, and so eventually I’ll earn the trust of this community that you know some of these trades are going to work out, and they have at a high-level.”
