Dallas Mavericks fans are still in mourning (well, sports mourning, anyway) over the already infamous trade that sent franchise cornerstone Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers for a package centered around Anthony Davis. Things went downhill for Dallas immediately after the deal, as Davis was injured in his first game and has yet to return, while star guard Kyrie Irving was lost for the season due to a torn ACL in early March.
As a result, the Mavericks have absolutely cratered, going 1-6 since Irving’s injury and falling from No. 8 to No. 10 in the Western Conference standings since the trade deadline.
The main culprit in the eyes of Mavericks fans has been general manager Nico Harrison, who took full responsibility for the trade that most experts still struggle to comprehend on any level. Since the deal was announced, Mavericks fans have made “fire Nico” a common refrain, even leading to one fan being removed from a February game after mouthing the words on the jumbotron.
The situation has clearly frustrated Mavericks forward P.J. Washington, who confronted a fan that shouted “fire Nico” twice while he was at the free-throw line during Dallas’ 130-125 home loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday. Mavs forward Naji Marshall reportedly spoke to the fan after the first time he shouted it and then, after the fan repeated it, Washington yelled, “Shut yo ass up” before taking his second free throw.
Washington discussed the situation after the game, explaining why he no longer wants to hear “fire Nico” from Mavericks fans.
“At the end of the day, trades happen. We understand we have a new team now,” Washington said. “All that ‘fire Nico’ stuff, we’re sick and tired of hearing it. We just want to go out there and play, and we want the fans to support us no matter who’s on the floor. That’s just how I feel about it.”
Mavericks guard Max Christie, who came over from the Lakers in the Dončić trade, also responded to the chants.
“Definitely not pleasant to hear, but I can’t really comment much on that to be honest,” Christie said. “We get paid a lot of money just to play basketball, so for us, we have little things like that that may be distracting and what not — it shouldn’t affect us. We’re professionals. We’re the best at what we do in this sport. Distractions are gonna be there, and we gotta be able to move forward and move past them and not let those affect us.”
Christie’s sentiment is one you generally hear from players, saying that fan behavior shouldn’t have any bearing on their performance. But to Washington’s point, it has to get extremely old hearing your own fans continually complain about something that happened over a month ago while the players are out there doing their best to try to win games and put an entertaining product on the floor.
Unfortunately for Washington and any other players who may be annoyed, it’s likely not going to stop either until the Mavericks start winning again or they do, in fact, decide to fire Nico. And things may intensify the closer we get to Dončić’s return to Dallas on April 9.
