Mavs GM has 'no regrets' about Luka Doncic trade: 'Defense wins championships'

Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison has mostly been unavailable to the media since trading superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, but on Tuesday, he opened himself up to some questions — at least, to a select group of Dallas media, in a conference where there were no cameras present.

In that conference, Harrison reiterated that he has "no regrets" about trading Doncic, and that "defense wins championships," per ESPN.

Harrison used past unpopular trades that worked out as a defense of his moving Doncic for Anthony Davis, a deal which not only caused Mavericks fans to grow angry at the team in a way that the Kyrie Irving and Daniel Gafford trades did not, but is so much obviously worse given Doncic was a star who helped lead the Mavericks to the NBA Finals in 2024.

Defense wins championships, but not on its own: ask the team that defeated the Mavericks in the Finals a year ago about that, considering their league-high offensive rating of 123.2 in 2023-2024. Defense was vital to that team, as well, but it was paired with a dynamic offense — the kind of dynamic offense that Doncic is capable of generating, especially when paired alongside a player like Irving.

The two are now split up, however, with Doncic scoring 28.2 points per game for the Lakers over 28 games, shooting 38% on 3s and contributing over eight rebounds and 7.5 assists per game to that mix. The Mavs have gone 13-20 after trading Doncic while they were still 26-23 — that initial record was disappointing, yes, but not a lost cause even in the competitive Western Conference, given the duo of Doncic and Irving.

After dealing Doncic, though, Irving then suffered a torn ACL and the end of his own season, and Davis — who played 36, 40, 56, and 76 games over the previous four seasons — has appeared in all of nine games for the Mavs due to his own injuries since the trade. In Harrison's defense, losing Doncic wasn't the only problem, but considering that Davis was the centerpiece of the return, it's not like the GM is fully absolved or dealing with some bad luck here, either. 

[Related: Luka Doncic holds back tears while watching tribute video from Mavs]

The Lakers have gone 22-13 in the same stretch, minus one Davis and plus one Doncic, which allowed them to finish with 50 wins and a third-place finish in the West. The Mavericks get a chance to stick around through the play-in tournament, since their skid dropped them to 10th in the West, but it will be very difficult for them to do something with their unfortunate seeding this season if they are to make it out of that tournament, unlike a year ago when they were fifth but with their own 50-win season, and pushed through to the Finals, anyway … which the presence of an explosive player like Doncic on the roster allowed them to do.

Harrison explained that the lack of regrets is due to how unpopular moves come with the territory. "That's my job and I have to stand by it." It's understandable, given that the Mavs might very well make it into the playoffs and the season is ongoing for them, that Harrison would refuse to express regret just yet. However, Mavericks fans are likely hoping that this is all that this attitude is, and not Harrison truly believing that, in the end, shipping Doncic off was no more than an unpopular trade.

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