Tim MacMahon Tells Wild Story Involving Luka Doncic And Nico Harrison
Jan 30, 2026
The NBA world is coming up on one year since the fateful Luka Doncic trade. The players dealt in this transaction, and the teams involved, are now deeply entrenched in the next chapters of their progression, but new stories involving that blockbuster move are waiting in the wings.
According to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, the jaw-dropping headline of February 2, 2025, can be traced back to the aftermath of the Dallas Mavericks’ Christmas Day game less than two months prior. That night, Doncic sustained yet another calf injury, which derailed the Mavs’ plans to establish themselves as playoff contenders.
In the wake of this injury, MacMahon said, he had a conversation with then-Mavericks GM Nico Harrison. “He was complaining about it; it’s always the same problem, referring to Luka’s conditioning. I said, ‘What are you going to do about it?’”
Chuckling, MacMahon dropped the bombshell: “I swear to you…He said, ‘If I gotta trade him, I’ll trade his a**.’”
MacMahon added that he threw his head back and rolled his eyes. About six weeks later, millions of hoop lovers around the world did the same thing.
During the Slovenian star’s first offseason with the Lakers, he drew much attention for his much-improved physical shape, which has undoubtedly played a role in his MVP-type stats with the Lakers in the 2025–26 campaign. However, in the latter stage of his Mavericks stint, the criticism aimed at Doncic’s conditioning grew even louder. Despite the Mavs reaching the NBA Finals in 2024, few believed that Doncic could truly lead his team to the richest prize in the league, given his physical limitations.
Though Doncic’s conditioning was questionable at the midway point of the 2024–25 season, there was a universal groan as Harrison pulled the trigger on a deal that sent the Mavs’ franchise player to Tinseltown. Just about every fan and pundit agreed that the reasons cited by Harrison did not outweigh the tremendous talent that the 25-year-old prodigy brought to Dallas.
Nine months after Doncic was shipped to the Lakers, Harrison was dismissed from his GM role. He had a thought process behind the biggest trade of the decade thus far, but it essentially cost him his job.
