The situation in Dallas has caught everyone’s attention. Following his shocking decision to trade Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis, Nico Harrison has been under constant fire from angry fans for letting go of a generational superstar. “Fire Nico” chants echo in the city along with protests against him and the team ownership. While the emotional outburst is understandable, things went too far when Harrison began receiving death threats, leading to major safety concerns. And the massive unrest has brought back some haunting memories for Steve Kerr.

Long before he became the Warriors head coach, Kerr was a GM for the Phoenix Suns from 2007 to 2010. And he made a trade of similar magnitude a year into his tenure by letting go of stars Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks for an ageing Shaquille O’Neal. Turns out, Kerr received the same treatment as Nico from fuming Phoenix fans, as he revealed during tonight’s presser, “I traded Shawn Marion for Shaq and I got death threats. Email death threats. Our security in Phoenix looked into it.”

Kerr continued, “I was never overly concerned. I have taken it for what it was, which was an angry fan typing away. But it’s still pretty disconcerting when somebody threatens your life.” So, the head coach knows exactly what Nico is going through right now. Obviously, the scale is much larger because of the social media era and Luka being a far bigger star than Marion.

Sure enough, Kerr also addressed the situation in Dallas, “You know generally I never really like to comment on other team’s trades… But I have been following the stuff with the fans, death threats for Nico. It’s brutal. It’s really sad and you kind of feel for everybody because this is a very emotional business and it’s what drives the business… Just seeing Nico go through the stuff he shouldn’t have to go through. It’s all really kind of surreal to be honest with you.”

During Monday’s Kings game, two fans were ejected from the Mavs arena after initiating “Fire Nico” chants. Even former majority owner Mark Cuban was forced to step in as he got up from his seat and signalled the raging fan to “sit the f— down.” It just goes to show how frustrated the fans in Dallas are. But will Harrison end up regretting his decision like Kerr did?

Steve Kerr admitted the Shaquille O’Neal-Shawn Marion trade was a “Bad Move”

On paper, acquiring a superstar like Shaq does not seem like such a bad decision. However, when Kerr did it, the Big Fella was nearly 36-years-old and in the final stages of his career. Sure, he made the All-Star team the very next season after joining the Suns, averaging 17.8 points and over eight rebounds. But Kerr revealed his true feelings about the trade on The Bill Simmons Podcast eight years ago, “In retrospect, it was a bad move.”

Revealing the reason behind it, he said, “We swung for the fences, but we disrupted what we had built. We made it for the wrong reasons.” While adding Shaq got the Suns a four-time champion, the trade lost them a multi-time All-Star like Marion, who was in his prime at the time. Obviously, that put the Suns’ future in jeopardy. What made matters worse is just three years later, Marion was a key part of the Dallas Mavericks team that took home the NBA Championship in 2011. Kerr took complete accountability for his error in judgment, “I was a young GM. It’s the kind of move that, yeah, you go for it, but you’re compromising the long-term health of the franchise. That was a mistake.”

Surprisingly, the situation is a bit similar in Dallas right now. Nico also let go of a young superstar for a chance to win now with an older one. And that has put the franchise’s future in jeopardy. Although the GM stands by his decision and claims that the Mavs are better with AD than they were with Luka, he might end up regretting it just like Kerr if the move does not result in a championship soon. What are your thoughts?