Nico Harrison's issues with team training staff still haunting Mavericks

Luka Doncic wasn't the only person former GM Nico Harrison dismissed from the Dallas Mavericks. As the team faces another injury setback with young center Dereck Lively II, it's fair to ask if Harrison's firing of team trainers helped lead to the team's massive injury issues.

Marc Stein reported that the young Mavericks center is experiencing swelling and discomfort in his surgically-repaired right foot, and will be re-evaluated in seven to 10 days. It's the same leg where Lively suffered a fractured right ankle last season, an injury that the Mavericks medical staff originally tried to make him play through.

Nico Harrison fired athletic staff in three straight summers

Before this season, Harrison dismissed the Mavericks’ head athletic trainer Dionne Calhoun and the team’s athletic performance director, Keith Belton. This was the third year in a row Harrison made major changes to the Dallas training staff, a process that started in 2023.

That’s when Harrison fired former longtime director of health and performance Casey Smith in 2023. Not only did Harrison dismiss Smith, a favorite of both Doncic and Dirk Nowitzki, he did so over Zoom, when Smith was visiting his dying mother. 

Since then, the Mavericks have been beset by a number of injuries, including a calf strain to Doncic last season that seemed to inspire his trade to the Los Angeles Lakers. Lively has missed 85 games in his two-plus seasons. Anthony Davis has only played 14 games in a Dallas uniform, and Kyrie Irving tore his ACL in February.

Nico Harrison hired unqualified yes men to run the training staff

Keith Belton replaced Jeremy Holsopple as athletic performance director last summer, and it later emerged that he lacked the mandatory certifications required to be an NBA strength coach. He also controversially ran Lively through intense workouts to get him to return to the court, before other staffers discovered Lively had a broken ankle — which kept him out three months.

It’s keeping with Harrison’s reckless approach to injury management, where he’d often urge players to return before they were totally healthy. Team governor Patrick Dumont had to step in to prevent Davis being rushed back from his calf injury this season. He blamed Doncic for poor conditioning at the time of his trade without acknowledging he’d replaced Doncic’s team trainers.

Firing Harrison won’t reverse the damage. Lively is out indefinitely after injuries to his foot and knee. The experience and institutional knowledge of Smith and his staff are gone — Smith works for the New York Knicks now.

Trading for an injury-prone player like Davis was always a risk. But doing so after cleaning out the old training staff was especially reckless, and one that will haunt the Mavericks even after Harrison is gone.