The Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday announced they had parted ways with much-maligned general manager Nico Harrison not even a year after he orchestrated one of the most stunning trades in league history, dealing away franchise superstar Luka Dončić, enraging the team‘s fanbase in the process. Now, in the midst of a 3-8 start for the injury-riddled Mavericks, the team‘s brass has opted to go in a different direction in the front office, ending Harrison‘s tenure.
Many Mavericks fans—and perhaps NBA fans at large—will applaud Dallas‘s decision. But not everyone believes Harrison is to blame for what currently ails the Mavericks.
Four-time NBA champion and Warriors star Draymond Green, for one, sure doesn't think so. Green, during an episode of his podcast The Draymond Green Show, defended Harrison in what is sure to be an unpopular opinion.
🏀 Before everyone rewrites the story, remember: the Mavericks never got to see the team Nico Harrison constructed at full strength...
— The Draymond Green Show (@DraymondShow) November 11, 2025
🎙️ Hear the full conversation on The Draymond Green Show - available wherever you get your podcasts & YouTube pic.twitter.com/D1VdVp45YO
"The team that Nico constructed to go win a championship hasn't been on the court," Green said. "So I find it crazy that everybody‘s just gonna act like Kyrie Irving is this easily replaceable guy. Do you see the Indiana Pacers without Tyrese Haliburton? They look like a completely different team.
"Yes, they [the Mavericks] got the No. 1 pick. Guess what teams that get the No. 1 pick usually look like the next year. Trash."
While it should be noted that the Mavericks won the NBA draft lottery despite improbable odds to secure the No. 1 selection—and Cooper Flagg—it's still an understandable point by Green. The Warriors forward went on to argue against fans blaming Harrison for ignoring Anthony Davis and Irving‘s somewhat checkered injury history by pointing out that both stars had been enjoying improved health in recent years before being acquired by Dallas. In other words, bad fortune for Dallas.
"...So miss me with the injury history stuff and going back 10 years and guys just been healthy the last two to three years," Green continued. "I don't buy that. Y'al just wanna go point the finger at Nico because that was a storyline—now let's make that a storyline again. That s--- is wack to me.
"So next year, they come back—that full team that Nico intended to be out there—and they have success. Then what?"
Harrison‘s defense-wins-championships vision with the Mavericks has largely come to fruition this season, as Dallas ranks in the top-10 in opponent points per game and field-goal percentage in 2025-26. However, the Mavericks, bogged down by injuries to Irving and Davis and inconsistent performances from the rest of the Flagg, Klay Thompson and D'Angelo Russell-led core, also own the league's worst offense.
It's fair to wonder what the Mavericks will look like at full strength. Unfortunately for Harrison, he'll no longer be with the organization when that occurs.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Draymond Green Has Unpopular Opinion on Nico Harrison Amid News of Mavs‘ Firing.
