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Mavericks GM Nico Harrison Issues Strong Statement On Getting Death Threats For Luka Doncic Trade

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Ashish Mathur | Last updated Apr 16, 2025 3:01 PM ET

Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison has received death threats since trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. Mavericks fans have chanted, "Fire Nico!" at every home game.

However, Harrison doesn't plan on quitting his job. The exec has three years left on his contract and he plans to finish his deal out.

"Yeah, I mean I have three years left on my contract," Harrison said on Tuesday, via WFAA. "I see myself finishing it out. In terms of Dallas, like this is our home. My family, they're gonna finish school here. This is where we live. So this is where I'm living."

The Mavericks acquired Anthony Davis and Max Christie from the Lakers in the Doncic trade. Dallas finished the regular season in 10th place in the West, while Los Angeles finished in third place.

Davis and the Mavericks have to win two play-in tournament games to make the 2025 playoffs.

Meanwhile, Doncic and the Lakers are already in the postseason. They will face the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round.

Everything looks dark for the Dallas franchise now that Doncic is gone. However, don't tell that to Harrison, who said Tuesday he's "optimistic."

"Personally, I'm optimistic," Harrison said. "You know, when you look at the team and you know, a couple times we've had three games in a row, we had eight players, and only seven and a half could actually play. Some of them were restricted minutes, but they didn't stop playing. And so I'm super optimistic about that, and I believe in the trade I made, I believe that that's going to bring us a championship caliber team going forward, and so I'm optimistic and excited about the future, and I do believe that once we win, the fans will come back.

"My family is solid. I don't really want to talk about them, but my wife and I, we have super grounded kids, and they're not oblivious to everything, but they're well adjusted."

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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