Within an in-depth story focused on the changes made with the Mavericks‘ health and performance department in recent years, Tim MacMahon of ESPN shares several details that reflect poorly on the team’s current management, starting with the firing of longtime director of health and performance Casey Smith in 2023.
As MacMahon explains, several sources believe general manager Nico Harrison fired Smith – who was close with longtime Mavs star Dirk Nowitzki as well as Luka Doncic – because he wasn’t enough of a yes-man.
“(Harrison) was 100 percent threatened by him,” a team source told MacMahon. “He’s going to show that I’m in charge and nobody else can question that.”
MacMahon also reports that the relationship between new director of player health and performance Johann Bilsborough and athletic performance director Keith Belton has been frosty, writing that Bilsborough doesn’t respect Belton’s acumen. Belton was hired by the Mavs first, with Bilsborough later hired as his superior.
A January disagreement over how Dereck Lively‘s foot injury was being handled led to a “loud, heated confrontation” between the two men, according to MacMahon, who hears from one source that the altercation was “coming for a long time.”
Here’s more on the Mavs:
- Both MacMahon and Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal (Substack link) say the calf strain Doncic sustained on Christmas Day was a source of major tension between the Mavs and the guard’s camp. The team believed that Doncic could be back in two to three weeks and Harrison thought the injury was related to Doncic’s conditioning, whereas the star guard’s camp was adamant that he needed to sit out for six weeks to fully recover and believed the injury stemmed from the fact that he returned too soon from a previous heel issue. “That deepened the divide,” a source told ESPN.
- In the wake of the Doncic trade, Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont no longer views Harrison as having “irreproachable basketball expertise,” sources tell Tim Cato of DLLS Sports (subscription required). Dumont has been especially frustrated that Harrison either didn’t foresee or didn’t better prepare him for the extreme negative reaction to the trade from the fan base, Cato adds.
- Within the same story, Cato cites sources who say that Jason Kidd “resented” the Doncic trade, even though the Mavs head coach shared some of Harrison’s frustrations about Doncic’s work habits. Kidd felt he was being asked to reinvent a roster and a system that had previously been built around Doncic, Cato explains, noting that the coach’s frustration was a factor in his decision to skip a mandatory press conference in February on the same day Doncic made his Lakers debut.
Kidd, P.J. Washington, and a 1st for Durant?
I don’t understand what Jason Kidd wants?
Does Kidd want to get rid of Doncic?
Does Kidd support Nico’s decision to get rid of Doncic?
One thing we know is that AD can’t lead a team to the playoffs. AD is an injury prone player
With AD, you talk about playoffs, you don’t talk about championships.
Step 1: be a perennial NBA playoff team with a great future
Step 2: change owners to born-rich, talentless, psychopath capitalist
Step 3: rich unintelligent person touches a thing: thing is now worthless
Step4: everythings on fire now
Step 5: gotta move to Vegas!
All the big pro sports leagues really need a live, sit down conversation about why these team owners should be silent and nothing else. Egos and unlimited capitalism are destroying MLB, NBA and NFL. These team owners do not have the IQ intelligence and emotional intelligence to have such power over the leagues. They have done nothing to earn this power, they are all too stupid and evil to warrant any power at all.
Remove all “team ownerships” altogether and run every team like a nonprofit co-op = all games are saved.
How many more signs do we need to see to know Nico has to go? Incredible how poorly an organization became after a sale of shares. You’re up Ishiba.
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Do you need any more proof. All Warrior fans should do an intervention …….
Seeing that there was visible frustration on Xmas between Luka camp/Dal camp
Me thinks a little birdie came along Nico in a dark parking lot and advised Nico Luka was walking in a year and a half for nothing. This little birdie wasn’t Luka, or his father, agent, or any entourage but the little birdie was paid a fee by Luka to deliver the message .
In the message I think the LAL and MIA were exclusively linked as trade destinations where he’d extend . Seeing that Mia was balancing some other strange things (Himmy) at the time Nico used his relations with Rob in a state of despair and desperation to strike a deal quickly. Delusion, the already ongoing bitterness between the 2 camps, and such a short time period to act (in secrecy for some odd reason) at some point deluded him to think AD could save it all and they could live under a “defense wins championships” umbrella for awhile. Big spill, one explained best perhaps by somebody trying to play Superman rather than face the tough music
Luka wanted to sign a 5 year $345 million deal with Dallas, the largest contract in NBA history. Dallas cost him $116 million by trading him because now he can only sign 5 years $229 with the Lakers.
The real reason he was traded was so the new owner can theaten to move the team to Vegas if they don’t get sports betting legalized in Texas.