“We really feel that defense wins championships, and we think the players that we’re bringing in add to the culture, which is important to what J-Kidd and I have been building here from day one.” While the entire hoop community criticized Nico Harrison for making the Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade, the GM had faith in his decision and believed it made the Mavs a win-now team. Well, tonight was AD’s chance to prove Nico was right. But The Brow’s debut ended in disaster as injury forced him to leave the Rockets clash halfway. And his exit angered the already fuming Mavs fans even more.

The incident occurred in the closing minutes of the third quarter. As Davis turned to contest Alperen Sengun’s dunk attempt after the Rockets’ pick-and-roll action, the Mavs big suffered a non-contact groin injury. In a scary sight, AD dropped to his knees favoring the injured area, and then began limping toward the bench while the play continued. Sure enough, he subbed out once the whistle blew and headed straight to the locker room to assess the issue.

Adding to the concerns, Davis did not return for the remainder of the game. Obviously, this puts Nico’s decision in question once again while he was already under immense scrutiny from fans. Even heading into tonight’s game, the GM’s safety was a major concern as veteran insider Tim MacMahon reported, “Nico Harrison has been subjected to death threats. There have been racial epithets included in some of those. Certainly, security’s going to be beefed up.”

Well, there were planned protests by angry fans outside the American Airlines Center against Nico and team ownership. Strict measures were taken to avoid any mishaps, bringing in the Dallas Police Department and seating Nico in a safer area than his normal seat in the stands. But AD’s injury in his very first game in the Mavs uniform only makes the situation worse for Harrison and his crew.

Nico Harrison under fire after Anthony Davis’ injury as Fans urge Adam Silver to “Investigate”

Once AD got injured, it allowed the angry fans to bash Nico yet again, as comments like “WHAT DID U HONESTLY EXPECT WHEN U TRADE FOR ANTHONY DAVIS??? U THOUGHT AD WAS GONNA PLAY 60+ GAMES & TAKE THIS TEAM TO THE FINALS OR SOMETHING?? @NICOHARRISONGM” and “Hey GM, can’t win games with defense if your best defensive player that you traded Luka for is going to be injured. Yikes. This trade just gets more and more sour for the Mavs” began flooding in.

As great a player as Davis is, his health has been a major concern for several years. Even before the blockbuster trade, he was out with an abdominal strain. So, Harrison knew what he was getting himself into, but he did it anyway. One netizen pointed out, “Traded a generational talent for Mr. Glass!” Sure, there were reported concerns around Luka’s defense and conditioning, which were part of the reason Nico traded him. But in return, he got a star like Davis, who is not very reliable himself. However, to be fair to Davis, he did play 76 games in 2023/24, compared to 96 games combined in the two seasons prior to last. But when he does go down hurt, it never looks good.

Seeing Davis get injured in his debut game, one netizen even smelled something fishy and urged Adam Silver to step in, “Yeah, the @NBA #AdamSilver need to investigate this trade… this is RIGGED.” Rigged or not, it’s definitely unfortunate because Davis was having an incredible debut before he got injured. “AD was cooking, then the injury curse hit again. Mavs gotta be praying it ain’t serious. Wish him a speedy recovery. dude was looking unstoppable.” One hopeful fan wrote.

Yes, before leaving the game, Davis was having one hell of a night and had scored 26 points and sixteen rebounds in just three quarters. And Mavericks fans were starting to wonder if Nico made the right call. But that hope was shattered once AD went down. Hopefully, Davis will return in the next game as he revealed later that it was just a tightness in the groin area and “nothing serious.” Surely, that’s what Nico would be hoping for after the criticism he faced tonight. What are your thoughts?