Former Mavericks star Luka Dončić made his return to Dallas with the Los Angeles Lakers and got a 112-97 victory to clinch a spot in the Western Conference playoffs. During the broadcast, “Fire Nico [Harrison]” chants rang throughout the arena. ESPN analyst and former NBA player Richard Jefferson chalked it up to being “complicated” in defense of Harrison.
"That's a complicated thing when you talk about Nico. Obviously, this trade and then the amount of injuries that they had afterward; they weren't able to truly see what this team is capable of," Jefferson said. "Nico did a very good job building this team. He made one of the biggest trades in NBA history and then the injuries started to pile up for this Dallas Mavericks team."
Fire Nico Chants again, broadcast acknowledging it with Richard Jefferson calling it complicated for some reason. Not complicated.
— Kirk Henderson (@KirkSeriousFace) April 9, 2025
Richard Jefferson gives Nico Harrison a pass for trading Luka Dončić
Surely Jefferson has been paying attention to what went down in Dallas with the Doncic trade debacle. This entire ordeal was about as complicated as the 45 points Luka dropped on his former mates Wednesday evening. Harrison was having a rough night, so Jefferson may have been trying to not pile on, but this trade will go down as one of the worst in NBA and possibly American sports history.
Luka Dončić exits to a standing ovation in his return to Dallas 👏 pic.twitter.com/Q0RZl1OXkX
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) April 10, 2025
It all depends on how many championships and individual awards Doncic goes on to win. Even one ring in LA would be one more dagger to Harrison. Fans in Big D have made his life a living hell the past couple of months since the trade. Fans want Harrison out now, and it’s hard to disagree with them. No excuse is good enough to justify shipping out the guy who led your team to the NBA Finals last season.
That trade made no sense whatsoever, and here’s Jefferson calling it complicated. What on earth was so complicated? Harrison traded a top-five player at the very beginning of his prime and got Anthony Davis and a bag of Funions in return. The only part of this that could become complicated is figuring out why Harrison is still running the Mavs come next season. This franchise is confused, with no direction or leadership right now. Say what you want about Mark Cuban, but this would never have happened on his watch.