“If the point was to soothe the feelings of an outraged fanbase, this was an epic failure.”ESPN’s Tim MacMahon was in attendance on Tuesday at a limited-access press conference from the Mavs. It was the first time that Nico Harrison spoke to the media and explained his decision to trade away franchise cornerstone Luka Doncic. The decision has not sat well with the fans, nor with the Mavs legend. Let’s first break down what GM said in the roundtable.

“Every trade I’ve made since I’ve been here has been met with high scrutiny.” During the hour-long session with select members of Dallas-based media, Nico Harrison doubled down on his stance and had no regrets about letting Luka Doncic go. What about the fanbase, who feels enraged about the decision?

“So eventually I’ll earn the trust of this community that some of these trades work out. The roster that would’ve been on the floor [had it not been for injuries], that’s a championship-caliber team. And although fans could have been upset with trading Luka, they wouldn’t have been upset with the results.” Mavs GM was alongside CEO Rick Welts and stressed multiple times, “Defense wins championships,” when asked about trading superstar Luka Doncic. Even though Dallas fans have echoed ‘Fire Nico’ chants, one analyst feels otherwise,

“Nico Harrison’s bad luck in the Luka transaction was Kyrie getting hurt. Because if he were healthy, this @dallasmavs team would be a threat to come out the West and their internet fans would still be butt hurt.” Eddie A Johnson, former Suns star turned analyst, stated on X and emphasized that Luka-less Mavs are a better team. Only the injury that Kyrie Irving sustained on March 3, which turned out to be a torn ACL, put a dent in those plans as per Johnson.

As per the latest reports, the 33-year-old can only return in January of next year. Irving did manage to average 24.7 points before his injury, and would have been key to Mavs’ success in the West. But this is not the only time the Suns legend supported the Dallas GM. “Say what you want about Nico. He obviously does not hide behind a twitter handle creating blind comments!” But not everyone is a fan of GM handling the media duties post-Luka trade.

Former Mavericks star rips Nico Harrison and his “cowardly” methods

As stated before, only a few of the media members were invited to the press conference. Plus, there were strict rules such as no live tweeting, no live streaming, no cameras or audio recording. The last rule was changed after multiple requests from the reporters, but it was approved with another restriction. Recorders could be used, but no audio clips could be released from the session. All in all, a never-heard-before practice, which a former player criticized.

“It was just completely cowardly what he did yesterday. The fact that he doesn’t allow microphones or cameras is the most shocking thing I’ve ever seen in media or sports.” Chandler Parsons on RunITBack made it clear about his opinion on a private media roundtable by the GM. “By the way the timing of it is weird, the day before you play in the play-in game, when you’re about to have exit interviews anyway. You can sit down and then feel the need to explain yourself.”

What Chandler Parson wanted to convey to Nico Harrison was to be responsible for the trade and take responsibility for the actions. The team finished the regular season 10th and today won the Play-in game against the Kings. Up next, they face Memphis to keep their playoffs alive as they enter the first postseason without Luka Doncic.