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After months of hiding while fans routinely called for him to lose his job for trading away superstar Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison finally addressed members of the media on Tuesday. Although Harrison, as well as Mavs CEO Rick Welts, did so in the most cowardly way possible, meeting on with selected members of the Dallas media and barring all video and audio recording during what they called a “roundtable.”
Both Harrison and Welts tried to justify the trade. Welts compared it to when his former team the Golden State Warriors traded Monta Ellis for Andrew Bogut in 2012. Ellis, of course, is not Luka Doncic and the Mavericks do not have a young Stephen Curry waiting in the wings. But it was Harrison who repeatedly made a point that did not stand up to scrutiny.
Nico said “defense wins championships” repeatedly in response to any question about why the Luka trade happened. i’ll have more on our @DLLS_Mavs show at noon. https://t.co/nAXxQIUXnS
— tim cato (@tim_cato) April 15, 2025
Tim Cato of DLLS reports Harrison routinely used the phrase “defense wins championships” while explaining his decision making. And yes, Doncic is not a great defender. But Harrison’s explanation falls apart even under the slightest bit of scrutiny.
For one, his claim isn’t really all that true. The Denver Nuggets had the 15th-ranked Defensive Rating in the league in 2023 when they won a championship. The Milwaukee Bucks were ninth in 2021. You can’t be an awful defensive team, but you don’t have to be great.
Secondly, Doncic is a fine enough individual defender. He grades or similarly to or better than Stephen Curry from a Defensive Box Plus-Minus standpoint according to Basketball Reference. Additionally, Twitter user @KeithArbitrary1 points out that the Lakers’ team DRTG has improved with Doncic, while the Mavericks have been worse defensively since trading him.
So not only did Harrison make his team worse in the short term, and presumably the long term, but he also failed to accomplish the thing he claims is the goal of the trade.