Just Nico's body language and the way he is holding his pen in this press conference signals to me that he knows he ed up and is on thin ice but he has to continue to tow the line and defend what he did.
I'm only a few minutes in, but the way he has short and clearly prepared responses to these questions (which honestly, were kind of obvious that these were the questions he'd get) also signals that the team is waking up to the fact that they are viewed among fans and around the league as jokes. This is the kind of press conference that politicians have right before they resign
Honestly, listening to this guy I'm shocked any team hired him to be a GM. Never heard anyone in his position speak with less confidence and authority. It wouldn't surprise me if all the people in the organization call him Nico Cuckleson behind his back.
Yeah he knew what the questions would be like and you’d think he would have consulted with PRs and prepared some politically correct answers but he clearly hasn’t. He’s a walking PR disaster.
Even I want Nico fired and I am not a Mavs fan to say the least. Normally I don't mind them being down due to being a rival, but man, this guy really screwed them over.
It's impossible that he traded Luka without ownership knowledge or input. He's covering for them.
Another banger Nico quote to close the press conference:
"I'm sorry, I'm not capable of looking at the worst case scenario"
Imagine admitting that you are incapable of asking and thinking about the basic question of "what does this look if it doesn't work"
Another line from earlier in the press conference was "I rule by faith, not by fear"
This guy operates under the assumption that if you just hope for the best, good things will happen. Unbelievable that anyone with this level of organizational responsibility would truly take this kind of approach.
I used to operate under the assumption that NBA front offices had a basic level of competence. I'm now going to completely abandon this assumption.
Related back to the Spurs... I think this is largely why the Spurs haven't had an end-of-season press conference. They don't want to have to face an endless barrage of questions about Pop, when perhaps they haven't been able to fully flesh out their plan yet. There is more downside than upside to sitting in front of the press and talking about that situation. I expect more specifically tailored stories to come out via the E-N for the Spurs to control the message this offseason.
People that are mentioning that the NBA wanted it to make the Lakers stronger/up the ratings or some conspiracy with the Adelsons, what about the other rumors that they tried to trade him for Anthony Edwards and Giannis? If those rumors are true, then the Mavs just wanted to move on from him and at least they tried to trade for better/great players that weren't a downgrade.
Maybe Nico got desperate and went with the Lakers when he shouldn't have. He scraped the bottom of the barrel with that trade. If he really did try for Edwards or Giannis, he should have just stopped there and left it. The Lakers trade shouldn't have been made under no cir stance.
I wonder how much AD would bring at this point in time?
A vibecoder who got Peter Principle'd well beyond his competence?
Shouldn't be surprised the owner that picked Trump president to run her country would pick another incompetent brains in Nico to run her team.
O'connor is being dumb here. There's no way Nico traded Luka aways without the aproval of ownership. They can't fire a guy for doing something they agreed on.
They can absolutely fire him, and make him the fall guy.
At this point i think it has to be the consensus view that this wasnt a legitimate, good faith effort by Nico to improve the outlook of the Mavs. the actual motive is still something of a mystery
- did ownership compel Nico to trade him, assure him that they wont fire him for the outlook, but are forcing him to face the media as though he is solely responsible?
- did he do this as a favor to pelinka/nike?
- was the league involved?
i think its one of those 3 in orders of decreasing likelihood. but people like o'connor making these takes are operating under the assumption that Nico was actually trying to do the right thing, which is completely unfathomable at this point
I'm not trying to defend Nico, but has it been confirmed that they offer Donic to the Wolves for AE and the Bucks for Giannis? If so, that does make it look like he tried to do a good trade. If the Lakers trade was like his 3rd or 4th option, then he should be held accountable and fired. If the Wolves and Bucks said "no", he should have just left it there. That is, if it was all his own decision to trade him.
If those rumors are BS about AE and Giannis, and the Lakers are THE only team he spoke to, then it's definitely shady as sh#$ and orchestrated by someone other than himself.
I don't think they're trying to sell anyone on the idea that he did it without approval. In the Press Conference, there is a question where a reporter says (paraphrasing) "You said when you first brought this idea to Patrick Dumont, he laughed at you..." and then Nico clarifies and says (again, paraphrasing) "It was more like a chuckle... and then I told Patrick the vision and got his buy in"
So, certainly they can fire him over this even if they agreed. Nico sold them an idea, and now after public backlash they've realized it was a stupid ing idea and Nico takes the fall. Happens all the time and there is nothing stopping them from doing it, but it does make them look like bad people to work for which may or may not impact their ability to hire a quality replacement (but money talks here a lot of times).
Nico also says in the press conference that this isn't something that he was instructed to do, that Dumont is a "good boss" who lets his employees do their jobs. Of course, Nico can be lying about this because he's been instructed to take the fall for this.
He also repeatedly absolves Jason Kidd for this, saying he only told Kidd after it was done and that it was all him in that regard, because he "knows what kind of players JKidd likes". I wonder how Kidd feels about this. Once Kidd is eventually done with the Mavs, it will be really interesting to hear his take. You know it's the first thing he'll be asked, even if it's 5 years from now, unless the Kyrie/AD Mavs win a chip (which I doubt).
Also of note for Spurs fans... sounds like Kyrie/Klay/PJ/AD/Lively is Nico's dream vision for the team. Doesn't at all sound like they'll be looking to move PJ anytime soon like some folks have theorized.
He didn’t even extract everything he could out of the lakersof he left a draft pick on the table, for example. No Austin reeves.
He’s just an incredible incompetent GM. It is hilarious how bad this guy ed up. If the Lakers flame out in the first round, everything about this situation will be hilarious. I’m thankful for Nico Harrison and the incredibly dumb owners that own the mavs
Absolutely...and then next guy can have enough la ude to move AD (who might ask for a trade anyway) for draft picks.
I know, then Nico can come out and just say that the Luka trade was all ownership's idea.
In the end, this trade was simply a collusion by all parties involved to help the Los Angeles Lakers. It's pretty damn head scratching just how much in plain sight that this trade happened.
I mean the league pretty much just said "eh, it, em (to anybody who would notice)." Just insane. It essentially wasn't very subtle at all.
The thing I keep saying/asking is if he tried to trade for AE and Giannis first (has it been confirmed that he tried to trade for these guys?), then it doesn't seem like collusion to me. Maybe he got desperate after being turned down and didn't try and fleece the Lakers for him. It seems like the Lakers took advantage of his as they could probably smell the desperation a mile off. Like Itzsoweezee said, he didn't extract what he could from the Lakers, and that is what makes it seem crazier.
Although that's possible (that Dallas/Nico tried to trade for legit superstars in Giannis and AE), I'm very willing to bet that all of that is damage control and lip service to make it seem like it was an honest attemp to make an honest trade.
But again, it is possible that they tried to trade for a superstar in return for Luka, but I really doubt it.
Too much between the lines and writings on the wall that this was just the traditional every decade steal a superstar from another team for the Lakers.
And I don't buy for a second that Luka was "startled" by this, or that the trade "hurt his feelings", because "Dallas was home to him". He wanted to go L.A. He wasn't hurt by this trade very much, if at all, imo.
I mean, it's normal that Luka might've felt ,"Eh, I'll miss Dallas a bit" but still wanted to end up in L.A. It's normal as a human to miss something a little even after you want out, etc.
I also wouldn't doubt if he knew about the trade all along. Despite it's size, Dallas and it's metro area isn't a true big media market like Los Angeles, Boston, Golden State, Chicago, Miami, etc.
Dallas isn't one of the cool teams like the above cities I just mentioned. The NBA and ESPN refused to market Dallas that way. It's the same thing with the Spurs, despite their historic run. The NBA and ESPN weren't having any of it.
And Dallas as a market is still riding on the coatails of the success of the 90's Cowboys dynasty. Tons of present day Dallas Cowboy fans are holdovers and or children/grandchildren of holdovers from that era. I'm one of em, lol.
All of this and just plain old wanting to rig a trade that would set up the Lakers for the future are why the league stole Luka out of Dallas, and put him in Los Angeles.
Last edited by Dod01; 04-21-2025 at 09:36 PM.
This Press Conference actually gives Mavs ownership a perfect opportunity to save some face.
You go to Nico, offer him a severance agreement whereby he has to stick with this story that it was his idea, and they fire him and weave some story with the fans that they were led astray by Nico.
Nico collects big paychecks, eventually goes to work for Pelinka like he apparently really wants anyway
Yeah, very possible it was BS and lip service that they tried to trade for a legit Superstar, but that is why I keep asking if it was ever confirmed.
You think Luka wanted out of Dallas and wanted to go to LA?
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