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Nico Harrison blamed former Mavericks majority owner Mark Cuban for losing Jalen Brunson in 2022, according to a new report.
Mentioned in an extensive ESPN feature about the power struggle between Cuban and Harrison during their tenure working together was the fact that Harrison held Cuban responsible for the departure of the now Knicks star.
Getty ImagesHarrison was fired by the Mavericks earlier this month.
“Harrison blamed Cuban for what he believed were the Mavs’ biggest personnel mistakes during his tenure, which came in summer 2022: allowing Jalen Brunson to get away in free agency and trading for Christian Wood, a player [Jason] Kidd didn’t want to coach and resented having on the roster. Several members of the coaching staff and front office also faulted Cuban for those moves,” the report stated.
The Mavericks reached the Western Conference Finals in 2022. Brunson has gone on to become a superstar in New York, helping lead the Knicks to the Eastern Conference Finals last season.
Brunson has missed the past two games with injury, but is averaging 28 points in 11 games this season.
Harrison is, of course, a controversial figure in Dallas after he was the man in charge when the Mavericks dealt Luka Dončic to the Lakers for a package led by Anthony Davis in one of the most shocking trades in recent pro sports history last season.
Dončic is averaging 34.6 points, 9.0 assists and 8.5 rebounds for the Lakers, while Davis is currently out with a calf strain and has played just five games for a Mavericks team that is 4-11 going into a clash with the Knicks on Wednesday night.
APCuban had criticized the trade and said in a radio interview in March that he was “of course” upset about the deal.
“If the Mavs are going to trade Luka, that’s one thing. Just get a better deal,” Cuban said. “No disrespect to Anthony Davis, but I still firmly believe if we had gotten four unprotected No. 1s and Anthony Davis and Max Christie, this would be a different conversation.”
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