NBA
Who Is Nico Harrison? The Man Who Once Lost Stephen Curry, And Now Luka Doncic

How could the Dallas Mavericks trade Luka Doncic for such a small return? What in the world were they thinking? Only one person needs to be asked, and that is Nico Harrison, the team’s general manager.
Who Is Nico Harrison? Meet The Mavericks General Manager
It is a name that is circulating around the NBA news cycle today. About 14 hours after the Doncic trade was finalized on Saturday night, Harris took the podium to address the media in Dallas, and answer the burning questions that surrounded what is quite possibly the biggest transaction in NBA history.
His explanations were not exactly reassuring, as he gave the backstory to the trade. He explained that he and Lakers GM Rob Pelinka had tossed around the idea as a pure hypothetical at first, but that it grew into something real over the past few weeks. Harrison confirmed that Dallas head coach Jason Kidd knew nothing of the deal prior to the trigger being pulled, and said that Doncic hadn’t returned any of his calls or texts.
The entire situation feels odd.
Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd wasn’t informed about the Luka Dončić trade until after the deal was finalized, according to GM Nico Harrison. pic.twitter.com/XQHIcizhNa
— ESPN (@espn) February 2, 2025
So who is Nico Harrison exactly? He started out his career in basketball as a player. He attended Montana State from 1993 through 1996, and took his team to the NCAA Tournament in his senior year. His only professional experience came with a league called the International Basketball Association, which has been defunct sine 2001.
A few years after his playing career ended, Harrison took a job with Nike has a regional field representative. The job was based in Dallas, and he wound up representing players like Dirk Nowitzki and Tim Duncan as a part of his dealings, and later with Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant upon being promoted. He eventually worked his way up to the role of Vice President of North American Operations.
While his career at Nike was an overall success, one of the more famous stories about Nico Harrison at the company is about an all-time gaffe. In 2013, budding superstar Stephen Curry was shopping around for a shoe company to represent him. Nike had a meeting. But instead of putting on a professional presentation, Harrison had reportedly referred to Curry as “Steven” on multiple occasions during the meeting. And the presentation that was used was originally made for Kevin Durant and had simply been recycled.
Rob Pelinka thought Nico Harrison was joking the first time Harrison brought up trading Luka 😅👀
(via Brad Townsend) pic.twitter.com/YrxXYb4KkX
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 2, 2025
On top of it all, Nike wouldn’t offer Curry a signature shoe, and the now two-time MVP and four-time NBA champion signed with Under Armor instead.
Nico Harrison parlayed his experience with representing NBA players into a high-level job with the Mavericks. During the summer of 2021, he was hired by the team to be the general manager, replacing Donnie Nelson who had been in the role for the previous 16 seasons. Dallas won 52 games in the first season with Harrison at the helm, albeit with a team that he mostly inherited. They made their NBA Finals appearance last season, but that accomplishment may be overshadowed by the day that he decided to trade Luka Doncic for what appear to be nickels on the dollar.