Dallas Mavericks fans are livid about the Luka Doncic trade, and it’s going to take a long time for the sting of what they see as the ultimate organizational betrayal to dissipate — if it ever does. Frankly, it probably won’t, and that’s understandable; this was just a truly insane trade and it only feels more insane as time passes.
That said, everyone needs to keep this in proper perspective. At the end of the day, it was a trade. Nobody got hurt and the Mavericks, in light of the death threats that GM Nico Harrison has reportedly been getting, are intent on keeping it that way ahead of — and during — their first game back in Dallas since the trade, which will be Saturday at 3 p.m. ET against the Rockets.
“This is a heartbroken franchise and there have been some very unfortunate developments regarding that anger,” MacMahon reported on Friday. “Nico Harrison has been subjected to death threats. There have been racial epitaphs included in some of those. There will be protests outside the arena, that is planned. Security will certainly be beefed up.
‘Nico Harrison is not going to be in his normal seat in the stands. There’s no reason to subject him to that kind of security risk. That has been definitely an unfortunate part of this whole storyline. Obviously the fans’ anger, hey, they have every right to feel like they got a generational superstar ripped away from them. But clearly lines have been crossed.”
Unfortunately, this is pretty predictable behavior in a situation like this. The majority of Mavericks fans, like all fans, are passionate and rightfully angry — but reasonable. However, there are always a few lunatics, and those are the ones the Mavericks are guarding against.
The thing is, MacMahon is also suggesting that Harrison isn’t solely to blame for this decision to move on from Doncic. He’s just the one taking all the public responsibility, and the heat that is coming with that.
“[Fans] are so mad at the Mavericks, and frankly at Nico specifically,” MacMahon said on The Hoop Collective Podcast on Friday. “I don’t believe Nico acted alone. I do not believe that. But he’s the one who’s taking the heat.”
It’s always been hard to believe that a decision of this magnitude wasn’t run past, and signed off on, by anyone else in the organization, be it the new owners or even coach Jason Kidd. None of this absolves Harrison of what, again, can only be characterized as one of the worst trades in sports history that was made even worse by the weak return they got for one of the most valuable assets in the entire basketball world.
But death threats? Screw your heads back on straight, crazies. Good on the Mavericks for taking this seriously and making the proper preparations to keep everyone safe on Saturday.
