Evanson: Tigard’s Nico Harrison shocked the NBA world last week, and I love it

Published 3:00 pm Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Tigard High School alumnus Nico Harrison is in hot water, and I love it.

Don’t get it twisted, I glean no joy from watching anyone caught in the modern-day tornado of fans who in recent years have taken fanatic to a new and more literal level. But it’s less THAT he’s in the crosshairs, and more WHY that has me embracing the former Tiger in the wake of last week’s bombshell NBA trade.

Harrison is in his fourth year as the general manager and president of basketball operations for the Dallas Mavericks and this past week made one of the league’s biggest and most historically surprising trades, swapping 25-year-old superstar forward Luka Doncic for 31-year-old Los Angeles Laker power forward Anthony Davis.

Harrison cited the team’s defensive upgrade as the primary factor for the trade on the court, and the team’s financial flexibility going forward beyond it.

Doncic would’ve been eligible for a “super max” deal following this season, one that would’ve paid him roughly $70 million per season over the next five years.

The five-time All-NBA first teamer also could’ve opted out of his current Dallas deal following next season, which would’ve created a bidding war for the superstar, something Harrison cited as a circus which he seemed not to want to be a part of, and one that may not have worked in their favor.

OK, reasoning some understandably can’t get their arms around, but reasoning nonetheless.

But whether you like the deal or like many, find it nonsensical, I love the fact that the team executive had the guts to use his power rather than like most in the league, relinquish it to the players who’ve been calling the shots for the better part of the last 10-15 years.

Whether you agree with Harrison’s rationale or not, it’s inarguable that he did this deal with the team’s best interest in mind. He — along with Dallas head coach Jason Kidd — are in the “defense wins championships” camp and as a result, were fed up with Doncic’s unwillingness to do little on the defensive end.

They want to win at the highest level and firmly believe that despite his undeniable talent, youth and marketability, Doncic’s shortcomings, along with the financial restrictions that would come with his inevitable super max extension, were more of an inhibiting factor to their winning goal opposed to one that enhanced it.

It’s not a ridiculous notion in a vacuum, but it is one difficult for fans of the team to get their arms around, and they’ve been — not so delicately — communicating such to Harrison and the organization in the aftermath of the deal.

Multiple Maverick fans were shown the door during the team’s game with Sacramento for signs that read “Fire” and “Nico.” The team elected to eject the fans based on what they called a violation of the NBA’s code of conduct.

It feels a little soft, but also like an effort to stem what’s been a rising tide of disdain that’s predictably culminated in death threats from Dallas’ finest, I’m sure.

That’s clearly crazy, while what Harrison did was nothing more than his job.

The Mavericks hired the GM to build a winner, and he feels like he’s doing that. You may not agree with him, I may not either, but whether what he did is right or wrong is and will remain — at least for now — yet to be determined.

But what I like about what he did was his willingness to take a swing, something we’ve seen little of in this market for the better part of two decades.

The Trail Blazers drug their feet on Damian Lillard for the last half of his tenure in Portland, and their unwillingness to move either the superstar or the surrounding pieces the organization and fan base tend to fall in love with left them in the end without options. It wasn’t until their hand was forced that they made a move, and due to such were left mostly with a market dictated to them rather than by them.

That’s not a position of power, and one that Harrison was trying to avoid.

For that? Good on him.

For the trade? Well, time will tell.

And as a Portland fan? You should be rooting for the Tigard High School alum and his trade because the last thing you want is for it to work out — for the Lakers.

That’s something I’m sure we can all agree upon.