Can Dallas ever turn the page on Nico Harrison's disastrous tenure?

Nico Harrison signed his career death warrant as an NBA executive the moment he decided to trade Luka Doncic last February.

For reasons we've discussed ad nauseam, that was an egregious deal at the time, and it only continues to look worse with each passing day. The Mavericks didn't just trade away a superstar in his prime. They moved Doncic - whose conditioning and long-term durability were reportedly a concern - for a more injury-prone player (Anthony Davis) who's six years older, Max Christie, and one measly draft pick. One!

Harrison and the Mavericks traded a perennial MVP candidate under long-term team control, yet somehow emerged still owing more future first-round picks than they were owed. That's virtually unprecedented when moving a player of Doncic's caliber.

A few weeks into the new season, Doncic is playing some of the best basketball of his already illustrious career for the 8-3 Lakers, while the Mavs languish near the Western Conference basement with a fittingly reversed 3-8 record. Much of that can be attributed to Kyrie Irving's absence and a glaring lack of competent point guard play. Who could've predicted that injuries would slow the Davis/Irving duo? The answer is everyone ... except Harrison.

That's why the Mavs finally put him out of his misery and relieved him of his duties Tuesday, a day after Mavs fans again serenaded their team with chants of "Fire Nico!"

Harrison's termination marks the start of a long healing process in Dallas, but there's much work to be done and many questions left to be asked. Chief among them, why did owner Patrick Dumont green-light the Doncic trade, and how can fans ever trust his judgment again? Dumont conveniently left the trade out of his letter to fans, which was supposed to be about accountability.

The lottery gods provided one get-out-of-jail-free card when Dallas cashed in on 1.9% odds in the Cooper Flagg lottery last spring, which a tone-deaf Harrison played off as part of his grander vision. The biggest fools always assume the rest of us are as foolish and gullible as they are.

But the Mavs will need more luck when the 2026 lottery rolls around. The team controls its own first-round pick this season but doesn't do so again until 2031. The best-case scenario for Dallas' long-term future is to bottom out in 2025-26 and add another dynamic young talent in the draft, whether that be Darryn Peterson, AJ Dybantsa, or Cameron Boozer.

Landing another can't-miss prospect on Flagg's timeline would put the Mavs in a great spot going forward, especially with Harrison out of the way. Where that leaves Davis, Irving, Klay Thompson, and vets on team-friendly deals like PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford is almost irrelevant at this point. Perhaps the new regime can get more for them on the trade market than Harrison got for Doncic. What a fitting way that would be to close the book on the former GM.

Then again, whether the Mavs turn their season around, tank their way to another foundational talent, hit the jackpot with Flagg, or pull off a surplus-value trade, none of it changes the fact that those players and assets are unlikely to turn into the caliber of player Doncic is. That's how special the Slovenian superstar is, and why Dallas fell in love with him, warts and all.

For that reason, it's hard to imagine the franchise ever being able to truly turn the page on Harrison's disastrous tenure. His legacy will endure - in the worst way possible.

Joseph Casciaro is theScore's lead NBA reporter.