Mavs GM Nico Harrison Is Right Back At It With Another Confusing Move To The Point Where He May Just Be Addicted To Making Horrendous Trades

Look, I don't want this to seem like I'm piling on Mavs fans. As I've blogged these last few days as this all has been going on, at the end of the day I really do feel for that fanbase. What is happening to them is arguably the biggest fear of a sports fan. It's sports hell. To have your franchise player ripped away from you like that, reading all the details surrounding the move making things feel even worse with each update, helping THE LAKERS of all teams, it's all a nightmare.

If all the Luka stuff wasn't already enough for them to deal with, what if I told you that the man responsible for this whole diaster decided to keep going and adding even more fuel to the fire? That seems impossible right?

Wrong

For those who may be unaware of these players, basically Nico Harrison just traded the better, younger player in addition to a 2nd round pick….for Caleb Martin. No matter how you slice it, this doesn't really feel like maximizing your asset. Not only is Grimes a better player, he's having the better season! Giving that up AND a draft asset when you didn't even get more than 1 draft pick from the Lakers makes you question just what the hell is going on?

And before Mavs fans freak out at me, the reason something like this happened is pretty simple. As always, look at the money

A move like this tells me that Nico Harrison and the Mavs did not think they'd be able to come to an agreement with Grimes on a new potential extension. Perhaps Grimes is looking for 10-15M+ and the Mavs don't think that's what he's worth. By not signing an extension, Grimes becomes a RFA which means he hits the market, but the Mavs have the opportunity to match whatever offer he gets. All it takes is one team to get stupid in RFA and offer something crazy, and if the Mavs turn it down, they lose that asset for nothing.

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This isn't new, it happens all the time. The confusing thing to me though is the timing of it all. Why? Because the Mavs just went through this when they added Grant Williams! Brad Stevens and the Celtics didn't want to extend Grant, which put him in RFA. What happened?

A sign and trade over the summer. There is no rush to do something like this right now! Even if you don't want to pay Grimes, you can still execute a sign and trade later this offseason when maybe the picture is a little clearer of what the landscape looks like. Maybe in that scenario, you're able to get a pick back or something if that new team really wants the player. The point is, trading for a worse player than you have now while also giving up a pick seems like bad business, but what else is new? I get that they just traded for Max Christie and maybe Nico thought Grimes was redundant or something because he's a "guard" while Martin is more of a "wing", but again, Grimes is the better player who in my opinion is the better perimeter defender which is more of a need on the Mavs at the moment. 

Given everything that just happened with Luka, I can't imagine Mavs fans are thrilled that this all seems to be done as a way to get ahead of the extension/RFA negotiations and save a little money. Again, I feel for them because they are in absolute sports hell right now 

In looking at the Mavs current roster, if you were sold on the idea of needing to trade Grimes, why not trade for another primary ball handler/shot creator? As of now, all the Mavs really have is Kyrie, which is a dangerous game to play. The shot creation of that roster took a major hit, and you just gave away one of your better young prospects (and a pick) for a player who is not as good and doesn't do any of the things you now need from a creation standpoint? That feels….odd. 

With a few more days to go until the trade deadline, perhaps there are more moves coming that we'll just have to wait and see that will help make a move like this make a little more sense. I have no idea what that could be, but it has to be coming right? is Nico getting forced into these decisions by ownership? Was there some sort of mandate to cut salary and this really isn't his fault, or does he think he crushed these last two trades?

The whole thing continues to make less and less sense, and you can understand why Mavs fans are rightfully bullshit.