November 11, 2025 • 7 mins
So now that Nico Harrison has been let go, what happens now? Join the Ben and Skin show for a look at the process ahead of the Mavs after today's news.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It is the Veteran's Day edition of The Ben and
Skin Show. Big thanks to all of our listeners and
everyone out there who supports ninety seven to one the
eagle that has served in our military and want to
thank their families as well for everything. Thank you so
much for your service. All Right, we got the big
finish coming up here. Momentarily, we're gonna end this show
with a lot of fun. But right now it's time
for this.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Are you excited?
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Featuring veteran news anchor Katie fun tweets all right, Yeah.
This morning, the Dallas Mavericks announced that they have fired
Nico Harrison, their general manager. Talked about it a lot
throughout the show. Today, Patrick Dumont wrote a big open
letter to MAVs fans that get released. I'll quickly just
(00:47):
read you a couple of the highlights from that. No
one associated with the Mavericks organization is happy with the
start of what we all believe would be a promising season.
You have high expectations for the Mavericks, and I share
them with you. Have made a decision to part way
as a general manager Nico Harrison. He also said, I
think this is an important line to put in there.
Our goal is to return to winning basketball to Dallas
(01:08):
and win championships. Our family is committed to that mission
and to continuing to invest in Dallas and the Mavericks future.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, because there's a lot of distill there's still a
lot to talk about it. Well, they're just trying to
destroy the team and move them to Vegas, So I think,
you know, that's important to put out there. One of
the things I'm so interested in is the reports that
all right, they're going to lean on Jason Kidd and
who just got a contract extension. And I'm like, I
wonder who gave him that contract extension? In other words,
(01:38):
did Nico have a hand in that. Did they listen
to Nico and say or did that kid just go
and learn that because the Knicks wanted kids so bad
that Patrick was like, all right, we're gonna give you
a contract extension. I think that's so interesting because normally
it would be the GM responsible for giving the contract extension.
But I don't know when they decided they were going
(01:59):
to stop listening to Nico Harrison, Like, when did that happen?
Speaker 1 (02:02):
It's so interesting to me, it is that is an
interesting wrinkle. I just think, you know, ownership is crazy
culpable in all of this, and look, they were super naive,
but you know, they bought the team for a real
estate play for a casino and they want to get
gambling legalized and all that. But they allowed this guy
to trade away the golden goose of the NBA, Like
(02:22):
they just allowed him to sabotage the whole. And I'm
not saying he meant to sabotage. He believed in it
or whatever. Yeah, but there was no checks or balances there.
So I mean, I don't have confidence that these guys
are going to get it right moving forward. I don't
feel like, you know, like with Cuban, I felt like,
and you know, obviously every every owner has good things
and bad things, but with Cuban, I kind of felt
(02:42):
like it was one of us season ticket holder, super
passionate fan, very involved. I don't think that's what this is.
This is like I'll be in town once a month
to check to see how things are going, and sometimes,
like I think Cowboys fans would love to have an
ownership group like that that just every once in a while.
But I don't know what to grab onto to feel
(03:03):
good about. I don't like. You know, the only thing
I feel good about is that Cooper flags here in
the future could potentially be bright. But I don't like
the way things are built right now. I'm we're trapped
by injuries and giant contracts, and you know, I don't
know that there's anybody over there I have confidence in
that's going to go make the right decisions and put
this thing on the right track. I mean, I hope
(03:25):
they do. I really hope they do. But you know,
when you trade a global icon who's twenty five years old,
five time all NBA and you get this in return,
it's like, this is the worst trade that's ever happened,
and we'll be feeling the effects of it for a
long ass time. I hope they can get us out
of this hole. You know, getting rid of Nico's the
(03:46):
first step. But it's really only make up on a pig.
It's only cosmetic because it's a vibe things, the vibe thing. Yeah,
but it's like, I wouldn't be surprised if fire Nico
chants are replaced by sell the team.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Chance doesn't happen faster if we if it is an
owner that's here all the time and his only focus
or main focus is this, because.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Here's the way both Steyn and McMahon of characterized this,
like he knows what's going on. The owner knows what's
going on. Uh yeah, and he saw everything. Was like, well,
I made this decision with Nico. We're the ones that
are culpable with this, so I'm gonna stand beside him.
And then the Cooper flag thing happened. And so the
(04:27):
Cooper flag thing, I think made everyone believe, all right,
we dodged the hell we got so lucky, we're moving forward.
And so the plan was to move forward. Nico was
the guy who signed DiAngelo Russell. Now it's not a
big commitment because it's a mid level exception and they
had that to spend, and so it's not some big thing.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
You know.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
I was told that Jason Kidd wanted Malcolm Brogden, who
retired a few weeks ago. So it's like, those are
your options at point guard?
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Right.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
It wasn't that they decided not to have a point guard.
There are no options, like, there's no there's nobody out
there and you're up against the second apron. So they
did what they could do. Nico made that decision. But
then the year started the way it started, and so
what happened is everything that everybody felt in March and
April all came rushing back.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
It's in the locker room, it's everywhere.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
And then when they went to Memphis and they got
their doors blown by a team that was in just
as much disarray as them, and they went into the
locker room and they're like, why are we playing like this?
It's like it never went away, all the feelings, all
that stuff, it never went away. In fact, it's exacerbated
right now all over again. So we can't make any changes,
(05:42):
but we at least need to get out from underneath
that feeling. And so that's all that's happened. They're trying
to get out from underneath that feeling, but figuring out
the direction and all that that's not gonna happen this year.
They just need to hope for health. They have good
players and see what they can do when they're healthy.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
But nothing.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
They're not gonna make any seismic trade before the trade
deadline with interim gms.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
That's not gonna happen. Yeah, god man, this sucks. There's
just no step one, though it is the first step
you gotta start, you gotta you gotta start somewhere. But
this I don't even know what to compare it to.
I don't know, because you if you, if you look
at trading Luka Doncic, you know, the one of the
(06:24):
best players on earth ever, that one of the best
players who's ever played, when he's just about to get
into his prime. For what they got back, it's almost criminal.
Like you could imagine what you'd have to give to
go get trade for Luca right now, imagine what the
Lakers would accept. They wouldn't accept this offer. They wouldn't
accept it with Cooper Flag and other first round picks
(06:46):
like and so it's just we're gonna be filling the
ripple effects of this for a long time. But at
least it's a step in the right direction. All right.
There you have it, uh Nico Harrison out with the
Dallas Mavericks coming up in the big finish, Where are
you going to take a KT?
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Well, I think inflation is on top of everyone's mind,
So let's play the price is what Inflation edition Next
It is the Veteran's Day edition of The Ben and
Skin Show. Big thanks to all of our listeners and
everyone out there who supports ninety seven to one the
eagle that has served in our military and want to
thank their families as well for everything. Thank you so
much for your service. All Right, we got the big
finish coming up here. Momentarily, we're gonna end this show
with a lot of fun. But right now it's time
for this.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Are you excited?
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Featuring veteran news anchor Katie fun tweets all right, Yeah.
This morning, the Dallas Mavericks announced that they have fired
Nico Harrison, their general manager. Talked about it a lot
throughout the show. Today, Patrick Dumont wrote a big open
letter to MAVs fans that get released. I'll quickly just
(00:47):
read you a couple of the highlights from that. No
one associated with the Mavericks organization is happy with the
start of what we all believe would be a promising season.
You have high expectations for the Mavericks, and I share
them with you. Have made a decision to part way
as a general manager Nico Harrison. He also said, I
think this is an important line to put in there.
Our goal is to return to winning basketball to Dallas
(01:08):
and win championships. Our family is committed to that mission
and to continuing to invest in Dallas and the Mavericks future.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, because there's a lot of distill there's still a
lot to talk about it. Well, they're just trying to
destroy the team and move them to Vegas, So I think,
you know, that's important to put out there. One of
the things I'm so interested in is the reports that
all right, they're going to lean on Jason Kidd and
who just got a contract extension. And I'm like, I
wonder who gave him that contract extension? In other words,
(01:38):
did Nico have a hand in that. Did they listen
to Nico and say or did that kid just go
and learn that because the Knicks wanted kids so bad
that Patrick was like, all right, we're gonna give you
a contract extension. I think that's so interesting because normally
it would be the GM responsible for giving the contract extension.
But I don't know when they decided they were going
(01:59):
to stop listening to Nico Harrison, Like, when did that happen?
Speaker 1 (02:02):
It's so interesting to me, it is that is an
interesting wrinkle. I just think, you know, ownership is crazy
culpable in all of this, and look, they were super naive,
but you know, they bought the team for a real
estate play for a casino and they want to get
gambling legalized and all that. But they allowed this guy
to trade away the golden goose of the NBA, Like
(02:22):
they just allowed him to sabotage the whole. And I'm
not saying he meant to sabotage. He believed in it
or whatever. Yeah, but there was no checks or balances there.
So I mean, I don't have confidence that these guys
are going to get it right moving forward. I don't
feel like, you know, like with Cuban, I felt like,
and you know, obviously every every owner has good things
and bad things, but with Cuban, I kind of felt
(02:42):
like it was one of us season ticket holder, super
passionate fan, very involved. I don't think that's what this is.
This is like I'll be in town once a month
to check to see how things are going, and sometimes,
like I think Cowboys fans would love to have an
ownership group like that that just every once in a while.
But I don't know what to grab onto to feel
(03:03):
good about. I don't like. You know, the only thing
I feel good about is that Cooper flags here in
the future could potentially be bright. But I don't like
the way things are built right now. I'm we're trapped
by injuries and giant contracts, and you know, I don't
know that there's anybody over there I have confidence in
that's going to go make the right decisions and put
this thing on the right track. I mean, I hope
(03:25):
they do. I really hope they do. But you know,
when you trade a global icon who's twenty five years old,
five time all NBA and you get this in return,
it's like, this is the worst trade that's ever happened,
and we'll be feeling the effects of it for a
long ass time. I hope they can get us out
of this hole. You know, getting rid of Nico's the
(03:46):
first step. But it's really only make up on a pig.
It's only cosmetic because it's a vibe things, the vibe thing. Yeah,
but it's like, I wouldn't be surprised if fire Nico
chants are replaced by sell the team.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Chance doesn't happen faster if we if it is an
owner that's here all the time and his only focus
or main focus is this, because.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Here's the way both Steyn and McMahon of characterized this,
like he knows what's going on. The owner knows what's
going on. Uh yeah, and he saw everything. Was like, well,
I made this decision with Nico. We're the ones that
are culpable with this, so I'm gonna stand beside him.
And then the Cooper flag thing happened. And so the
(04:27):
Cooper flag thing, I think made everyone believe, all right,
we dodged the hell we got so lucky, we're moving forward.
And so the plan was to move forward. Nico was
the guy who signed DiAngelo Russell. Now it's not a
big commitment because it's a mid level exception and they
had that to spend, and so it's not some big thing.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
You know.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
I was told that Jason Kidd wanted Malcolm Brogden, who
retired a few weeks ago. So it's like, those are
your options at point guard?
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Right.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
It wasn't that they decided not to have a point guard.
There are no options, like, there's no there's nobody out
there and you're up against the second apron. So they
did what they could do. Nico made that decision. But
then the year started the way it started, and so
what happened is everything that everybody felt in March and
April all came rushing back.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
It's in the locker room, it's everywhere.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
And then when they went to Memphis and they got
their doors blown by a team that was in just
as much disarray as them, and they went into the
locker room and they're like, why are we playing like this?
It's like it never went away, all the feelings, all
that stuff, it never went away. In fact, it's exacerbated
right now all over again. So we can't make any changes,
(05:42):
but we at least need to get out from underneath
that feeling. And so that's all that's happened. They're trying
to get out from underneath that feeling, but figuring out
the direction and all that that's not gonna happen this year.
They just need to hope for health. They have good
players and see what they can do when they're healthy.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
But nothing.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
They're not gonna make any seismic trade before the trade
deadline with interim gms.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
That's not gonna happen. Yeah, god man, this sucks. There's
just no step one, though it is the first step
you gotta start, you gotta you gotta start somewhere. But
this I don't even know what to compare it to.
I don't know, because you if you, if you look
at trading Luka Doncic, you know, the one of the
(06:24):
best players on earth ever, that one of the best
players who's ever played, when he's just about to get
into his prime. For what they got back, it's almost criminal.
Like you could imagine what you'd have to give to
go get trade for Luca right now, imagine what the
Lakers would accept. They wouldn't accept this offer. They wouldn't
accept it with Cooper Flag and other first round picks
(06:46):
like and so it's just we're gonna be filling the
ripple effects of this for a long time. But at
least it's a step in the right direction. All right.
There you have it, uh Nico Harrison out with the
Dallas Mavericks coming up in the big finish, Where are
you going to take a KT?
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Well, I think inflation is on top of everyone's mind,
So let's play the price is what Inflation edition Next
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