Brad Townsend: Nico Harrison says the conversation with Cauley-Stein was difficult, but that the Mavs will continue to support him through his personal situation. He adds that in the end, franchise had to do what’s best for the franchise.
Tag: Nico Harrison
What I’m saying is that this guy is a …
What I’m saying is that this guy is a macher, an imposing force that makes moves on behalf of his guy. “But wait,” you might be thinking. “Isn’t ‘his guy’ the Nike shareholder?” Yes, no, maybe. You see, Merritt pioneered a grey-zone business called “Sports Marketing,” an industry within an industry that plays by completely different rules. When a star signs with a sneaker company, they are connected with a marketing rep. For Kevin Durant, it was a genial man by the name of Chuck Terrell, who just got hired away by the Utah Jazz as part of their plan for attracting players who might not otherwise choose Utah. For Kobe Bryant, it was Nico Harrison, now general manager of the Dallas Mavericks.
Numerous key decision-makers from …
Numerous key decision-makers from around the league were spotted during the first two days, including Denver’s Tim Connelly, Dallas’ NIco Harrison, Memphis’ Zach Kleiman, Charlotte’s Mitch Kupchak, Oklahoma City’s Sam Presti and the San Antonio duo of R.C. Buford and Brian Wright. Toronto’s Masai Ujiri, fresh off his own recent stint in the league’s health and safety protocols, was also briefly in attendance.
What have you learned about …
What have you learned about organizational structure in the past two decades? Mark Cuban: There’s business organizational structure and there’s players. It’s a player-driven league. You have to adapt to the players. What does that adaptation look like? Mark Cuban: Nico and J-Kidd. They get to come in with a fresh start. The players are just different. When I first came here, there was a playbook. Del Harris would hand you a playbook. There are no kids today reading anything. I don’t care what it is. But if you put it in a video? We are talking about putting plays in an app where you just scroll like a TikTok video. It’s no different than my 12-year-old, my 15-year-old and my 18-year-old. If I want to know what news is happening, I ask what happened on TikTok because that’s how you get them. Why are the kids coming into the NBA any different than our kids? It’s the exact same thing.
Report: Lakers previously had interest in new Mavericks’ GM Nico Harrison
The Los Angeles Lakers reportedly had interest in signing Nico Harrison, who eventually became the general manager of the Dallas Mavericks.
The Dallas Mavericks had a 2-0 and 3-2 series lead in the first round against the L.A. Clippers and everything appeared on the right track for the franchise to advance in the playoffs.
But after the Mavericks blew both leads and suffered elimination, the front office underwent major shakeups shortly after Tim Cato of The Athletic reported the dysfunction transpiring in the front office.
Dallas parted ways with longtime general manager Donnie Nelson and head coach Rick Carlisle, opening the door for new hires.
Former Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Jason Kidd joined Dallas as the head coach soon after Rick Carlisle publicly vouched for him to be the replacement, and Nico Harrison came on as the new general manager.
Harrison’s path to the position is an interesting one; he previously served as an NBA representative with Nike.
Though Harrison didn’t have experience in an NBA front office setting, teams eventually desired his expertise on their staff, and according to NBA reporter Marc Stein, the Lakers were once one of those teams:
“At his introductory news conference Thursday, new Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison acknowledged being pursued by multiple teams in the past for a front-office role but electing to stay with Nike each time until Dallas made a run at him. Two of those teams to express interest, according to league sources: San Antonio and the Los Angeles Lakers. The Spurs were high on Harrison’s potential as an executive and the Lakers knew him well after Harrison’s extensive work with the late Kobe Bryant.”
It’s unclear exactly when this interest occurred, but the San Antonio Spurs and Lakers have had many talented people run the behind-the-scenes work throughout their respective histories.
If both of those teams coveted Harrison, he could be a beneficial hire for the Mavericks, who need to build a stronger roster around young star Luka Doncic.
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