Mavericks owner Patrick Dumont expressed regret for the Luka Dončić trade during a courtside conversation with a teenage fan on Monday night.
“Basically Patrick was like, he feels horrible for the trade. And wants to make it up to us,” said Nicholas Dickason, a season-ticket holder who sat down beside Dumont before the Mavericks game against the Bucks, according to The Athletic.
Hours later, after the Mavericks had blown a double-digit fourth-quarter lead, fans showered American Airlines Center with “Fire Nico” chants, a common refrain in Dallas since GM Nico Harrison traded their franchise cornerstone in February.
The next morning, nine months and 11 days after the trade, Dumont finally succumbed to the fans’ requests and fired Harrison, the brainchild of the Dončić deal. But Dumont bears a level of responsibility for the chaos since his approval carried the trade past the finish line. NBA trades with a fraction of this magnitude are run through ownership.
Dumont, the son-in-law of Mavericks majority owner Miriam Adelson, who purchased the team from Mark Cuban in 2023, remains the team governor. He’s expected to steer the team, currently sitting near the bottom of the Western Conference standings, forward.
He has proven business acumen as the president of Las Vegas Sands Corp., and will be essential in the NBA’s pursuit to once again reconnect with the Chinese market, but his mishandling of the Dončić trade has shown his inexperience in the sports world.
In the wake of the deal, Dumont defended the team’s decision, undermining Dončić in the process, seven months removed from a trip to the NBA Finals.
“In my mind the way teams win is by focus, by having the right character, by having the right culture, and having the right dedication to work as hard as possible to create a championship-winning outcome,” Dumont told The Dallas Morning News. “And if you’re not doing that, you’re going to lose.”
He then named superstars that exemplified his vision, leaving out Mavericks icon Dirk Nowitzki, while mentioning Shaquille O’Neal, who, by his own admission, was a lackadaisical participant in practice during his playing career.
Both Dumont and Harrison also failed to read the pulse of their fans before making the trade.
“If we lost any of our fans’ trust, it was hard and I apologize, but I hope over time we can regain that trust through hard work,” Dumont said during an interview less than two weeks after the trade.
Harrison acknowledged his own misjudgment of the team’s fans in April during Mavericks exit interviews after the 2024–25 season.
“I did know that Luka was important to the fan base,” Harrison said. “I didn’t quite know it to what level.”
Dumont is already attempting to rebuild trust with fans, not only through his courtside conversation Monday. He married the announcement of Harrison’s firing with a six-page letter thanking fans for holding the organization “accountable.”
“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. When the results don’t meet expectations, it’s my responsibility to act. I’ve made the decision to part ways with General Manager Nico Harrison,” Dumont wrote.
He added: “I understand the profound impact these difficult last several months have had. Please know that I’m fully committed to the success of the Mavericks.”
The letter did not reference the Dončić trade.
Dumont will likely need to engineer an on-court turnaround to recoup the fans’ trust, especially while Dončić and the Lakers sit near the top of the Western Conference.
He does have the fortune of moving forward with 2025 No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg, a new franchise cornerstone, who they could potentially pair with another star teenager in the 2026 NBA draft if they remain in the league’s doldrums this year.
