Shaquille O'Neal Sends Clear Message to Nico Harrison Amid Intense Backlash

With the NBA playoffs in full swing, a surprising amount of attention remains on Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison—even though the Mavericks' season ended several days ago in the play-in tournament.

Much of the growing scrutiny centers around Harrison’s ongoing media appearances. On Monday afternoon, he held yet another press conference, where he continued to defend his controversial decision to trade Luka Doncic. Despite heavy criticism, Harrison stood by the blockbuster move, which has so far been viewed as a major failure.

Harrison shocked the basketball world when he dealt Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and draft compensation back at the beginning of February. 

While the Lakers enter the postseason as the No. 3 seed in the West, the Mavericks failed to even make the playoffs—less than a year after reaching the NBA Finals with Doncic at the helm.

Following Monday's press conference, NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal had a clear message for Harrison during the "NBA on TNT" pregame show.

O'Neal stated, "His problem is he wants to be liked when he should just be focusing on doing his job. He made a decision... Of course, he knows the importance of Luka. But he just wanted to be nice, he wanted to give the corporate answer. So my advice to you, brother, is just do your job and go with the flow. As long as the owners have your back, you should be fine."