One night last spring – after a typically brilliant Luka Doncic performance – Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison dined with a couple of his former college teammates who he’d invited to the game.

In the March 21, 2024 home win over the Jazz, Doncic scored 34 points and flirted with a triple double. And later that night over dinner, Harrison gushed about the Slovenian  – who was widely viewed to be the franchise’s long-term cornerstone at the time.

‘He spoke highly of Luka as a basketball player,’ Harrison’s former Army teammate, Derrik Allen, recalled of the reunion. ‘He was telling me and my friend, Bob, just how talented Luka was and stuff. 

‘But you know, as he talked about the team and and some of the other guys, you could tell that in his own way, he sort of has his opinions and evaluations about the team and different guys.’

Less than a year later, those opinions came to fruition in stunning fashion, as Harrison and the Mavericks decided to trade Doncic to the Lakers in exchange for a package including Anthony Davis, Max Christie and just one first-round pick. Dallas’ season – following injuries to both Davis and Kyrie Irving – then came to a screeching, premature end on Friday with a loss in the play-in tournament.

The initial decision to swap a then 25-year-old reigning scoring champion for two-way star Davis – a player six years his senior – sent shockwaves through the league. And drew a text from his old buddy Allen.

Nico Harrison has been in the limelight since the Mavericks traded away Luka Doncic

An emotional Doncic returned to Dallas as a Lakers player earlier this month, winning 112-97

‘I said, “Big move, young fella”,’ he recalled to the Daily Mail. ‘And he just kind of did a “LOL”.’

The trade has been no laughing matter to Mavs fans, who saw their team plunge to 10th in the West standings following a season-ending ACL tear for Irving and an adductor strain for Davis in his Dallas debut, which sidelined him for 18 straight games (he returned to the court in late March and did play in Dallas’ two play-in games).

Amid all of that, Mavs faithful have chanted repeatedly for Harrison to be fired. Some even threatened his safety, forcing him to hire security to protect his home.

In the same time period, the Mavericks have repeatedly leaked to the media about Doncic’s apparent lack of professionalism, including his weight struggles and his alleged appeтιтe for beer and hookah.

Harrison furthered that conversation last Monday as he spoke to reporters (albeit with cameras and recording devices banned), and mentioned how Doncic ‘probably dropped the most points when maybe he’s not in the best conditioning.’

He added that there were ‘no regrets’ regarding the trade and made a point of repeating the phrase ‘defense wins championships.’ The Mavs did not return a separate request for comment for this story.

Ultimately, while the decision to move Doncic seemingly came out of nowhere, those who know Harrison from his college days describe a demanding, intense leader – one who was never likely to tolerate any sort of perceived shortcomings in a star player.

‘Winning and being a first-class person mean a lot to him, and when he is part of something, he’s in it,’ Bill Lamberty, the ᴀssistant athletic director for communications at Montana State, told the Daily Mail.  ‘There’s no halfway in for Nico.’

After playing one season at Army – where his coach, Tom Miller, ultimately lost his job due to his poor relationships with players – Harrison transferred to Montana State, where he went on to become a three-time All-Big Sky honoree and a member of the school’s Hall of Fame.

Lamberty remembers Harrison as a ‘defensive stopper’ for the team, and one who instilled discipline in his teammates.

Harrison starred at Montana State in college and became a member of the school’s Hall Fame

He later went on to become a top executive at Nike, where he worked closely with Kobe Bryant

‘He was the guy that was always really hard on the young players, not in an interpersonal sense, but like in practice,’ he said. ‘He guarded young guys to within an inch of their life, and he demanded that they play hard, demanded excellence, demanded great practice habits.’

Harrison, who went on to play professionally in Belgium, Japan and Lebanon, was known as a talented all-rounder, but also one who was well-prepared and scouted opposition teams in advance.

‘He’s pretty understated, but really a keen study of everything around him,’ Lamberty said. ‘He’s really perceptive and smart.’ 

That sort of curiosity is not far off from what Allen remembers of Harrison in the classroom.

Before playing professionally, becoming a top executive at Nike and ultimately landing his current job with the Mavs, Harrison was set on going to medical school and becoming a doctor.

‘That to me, sort of bonded us, because I was a good student as well,’ Allen said. ‘I ended up being team captain there at the Academy. So I was kind of one of those serious guys too. But he was just a real compeтιтive guy. And like I said, he was serious about ball.’

If Harrison already earned a reputation for his seriousness in college, those habits were hardened further at Nike, where he worked closely with Kobe Bryant and rose the ranks from a player representative to Vice President of North American basketball operations. 

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For Harrison, his nearly 20 years at the sports behemoth was a time where he enjoyed near-total anonymity, as he worked alongside stars such as Bryant, Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki.

As one of the company’s NBA player representatives, known as ‘The Seals’ according to The Athletic, he operated in the shadows.

And while a level of secrecy and discretion was required for that role (a type of secrecy which was also seen when he didn’t allow anyone other than the Lakers to bid for Doncic), his anonymity during those years is still proof to Lamberty that the Doncic trade was not borne of some selfish desire for recognition.

‘The whole time he was at Nike, he was with the biggest players, biggest names in the NBA, right? And you never heard his name,’ he pointed out.

‘He could have very easily postured and posed and had his name out there in the forefront. He never did. Nobody knew who Nico Harrison was, outside of people here [Montana] probably and the real inner circles at Nike.’

‘I’m almost positive in saying he wasn’t trying to make some big splash to separate himself as “Nico the Wizkid GM”, gonna make this move so that it could show how great he is,’ added Allen, who said his friend was ‘discerning’ in his decision-making. ‘Yeah, that’s not who he is.’

Harrison reiterated last week that his job was to do ‘the best thing for the Mavericks.’

Harrison and Mavs coach Jason Kidd are seen speaking to the media after the Doncic trade

The move has been hugely unpopular with fans, who have called for Harrison’s firing

How that declaration ages, with an injury-prone Davis, and Irving likely to miss most, if not all of next season, remains to be seen.

Lamberty and Allen are both sports fans and accept that a certain level of criticism comes with the territory of leading a major sports franchise. Still, the level of vitriol being shown towards someone they’ve known for decades has been a little tough for them to stomach.

‘People are just kind of going overboard with some things, so that really hurts,’ Allen said. ‘I’m like, man, if you knew him, you would go, “This guy doesn’t deserve this.” He’s in a leadership role. He made a tough decision in sports. 

‘And you know, anytime you get into that arena, folks aren’t going to necessarily always agree with the moves that are made.’

‘It’s a little frustrating, because I think every plan deserves time to play out, right?,’ Lamberty added. ‘… As a fan, sometimes you start from a place that if somebody does something you don’t agree with that, you ᴀssume that person doesn’t know what they’re doing. And I think that’s unfair.’

With Dallas’ prodigal son Doncic now wearing the purple and gold for a dangerous Lakers team, of course many Mavs fans have already made up their minds. 

Aside from his post-trade text to Harrison, Allen has not rang up his old friend to ask him about the move.

Lamberty, who exchanges the occasional text with him and sometimes sees him at Montana State football games, hasn’t spoken to him in a while either.

Harrison, though, made himself heard loud and clear when he spoke to reporters last week.

‘Every trade I’ve done has been met with high scrutiny,’ he said. ‘And so eventually, I’ll earn the trust of this community back.’