Can Nico Harrison be on the good books now? Getting Cooper Flagg now might be the start of a fresh identity in D-Town. Regardless of how fresh the Luka Doncic wounds are right now, this is their new reality. And it’s one everyone at the Mavericks have embraced in stride. The proof? An all-out team dinner – from the front office, and the players who are gonna don the iconic royal blue and black with Flagg. But even in the midst of possibility, there’s a stink of negativity from the usual suspect himself.

NBA insider Marc Stein reported Cooper Flagg had dinner Tuesday night with Mavs brass. Nico himself, assistant GM Michael Finley, head coach Jason Kidd, and CEO Rick Welts? All there, including the players. Flagg’s future? Might be cooked up right at that dinner table.

“I wanted to know who was at the pre-draft dinner and that was the one question I got to ask him afterwards and he said PJ Washington was there, who we’ll talk about a little bit later. Naji Marshall, Max Christie and the inevitable Dwight Powell was also there at that dinner,” said Nick Angstadt.

PJ, Naji, Max, and Powell make 4. That’s Flagg’s count of the dinner buddies. But apparently, that’s not Nico’s version of events. It seems as if the Mavs GM had accounted for 6 players, not 4. Who’re the other 2? That’s still a mystery. “There had to be two other guys because Nico said six players took him out to dinner. So [either] Cooper Flagg lies to Nico Harrison. But it is cool,” continued Angstadt.

All of this is bound to happen when you have someone like Harrison at the wheel. You just know the backlash will be something the Mavs fans will never be able to recover from. And as it turns out, they let him know of it – 5 months after the dreadful Doncic trade. But the timing was everything. The fans chose to voice it in their best moment this year – which was getting Cooper Flagg.

Joy of Cooper Flagg coup shot down by chants against Nico Harrison with Anthony Davis present

Why wouldn’t they celebrate? The Mavs needed this win like air. Kyrie’s injury threw everything off. Fans took aim at Nico Harrison. The play-ins? Another disaster. Ever since the Luka Doncic trade, chaos hasn’t let up. They would’ve traded a limb for someone like the Duke prodigy. So landing him felt like popping champagne after a Game 7 win. But here’s the kicker – literally everything was forgotten. Everything, except the target on Harrison’s back.

Dallas took the term “watch party” quite literally – with an army of Mavericks eyeing to see their new golden boy. They even had Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers and Mavs center Anthony Davis in attendence. But neither of those storylines took the headlines by storm. Instead, it was the same rigamarole that’s haunted the streets of Dallas since Feb 1st.

“There there’s like 5,000 fans… I think they showed – like they flashed to our broadcast and that showed Nico, and a “fire Nico” chant broke out,” said Tim Bontemps on The Hoop Collective.

Maybe Cooper Flagg can’t save the hellhole the Mavs are in right now. Maybe what Nico Harrison did was unforgivable. But this season will literally be do or die for this franchise. Will it end in harmony or despair? Grab your popcorn.