Airball

When can a decision be understood to have been completely incorrect? When it draws widespread condemnation from the public? Surely not, as unpopular decisions have sometimes been redeemed by an unexpected success. But when a decision leads to serious failure and results in the person who made said decision losing their job, surely the choice made must be declared unequivocally a failure. 

Such was the sad case of Nico Harrison, the general manager of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team. The decision in question was of course choosing to trade Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2024 season. Doncic, the 26-year-old Slovenian powerhouse and face of the franchise, was expected by everyone, including himself, to be a mainstay in the Dallas lineup for years to come. But, in a trade that baffled management and the public alike, the Mavericks gave up their young star in exchange for what seemed to be much less: two decent players from the Lakers and a good draft position for the following year. 

The rationale for the move was seemingly that Doncic was underperforming and overweight, and that the team needed to focus on its defense, thus trading for the nearly seven-foot-tall center Anthony Davis. Still, this line of reason did little to quell the outrage amongst the fans, who routinely held up signs at games reading “fire Nico”. 

But they didn’t, at least not at first. And in the draft the Mavericks were able to pick first, securing the coveted 18-year-old foreword. Any hope that this would mean a turnaround in the Mavericks’ fortunes was not to be. Plagued by injuries and lackluster performances, Dallas performed poorly, sitting at a current record of 3-10. Meanwhile, a slimmed-down Luka Doncic was averaging 33 points a game, helping the Lakers become one of the best teams in the West. By early November general management had seen enough, and Nico Harrison was let go. And thus the largest airball in modern NBA history finally hit the ground