In overhauling their front office for the first time in a generation, the Dallas Mavericks and Mark Cuban pushed all of their chips into the middle of the table based on an idea: basketball is a sport built on relationships.
Out was long-time General Manager Donnie Nelson, and in was a first-timer inNico Harrison – not a basketball mind, but from the executive ranks of Nike. He wasn’t a guy who lived and breathed advanced stats or was looking to crack the code of basketball in the way someone like Daryl Morey was. Harrison was someone who had spent a lot of time adjacent to the league and had developed those valuable relationships with players Cuban was now prioritizing.