Dallas fans were shocked, angry, and betrayed when the news of Luka Doncic being traded for Anthony Davis broke. Everyone immediately turned on the man responsible — Nico Harrison. His motives behind the trade seemed inexplicable, and the sentiment was firmly against him, as shown by the end-of-season awards voting. But it seems even his players have begun turning on him now. The “Fire Nico” movement began almost immediately after the Luka trade. And after the way their season ended, it seems Naji Marshall wants Doncic back in the Mavs. He spoke about the trade recently on a Twitch live stream.

“That was crazy. I couldn’t believe it. I miss Luka though,” he said on the stream. It’s understandable why he misses Luka. Their love for each other was visible upon Luka’s return to Dallas. “Luka means so much to this city and vice versa. Luka moved from his country to America, starting in Dallas…and it’s just all love,” he said after Luka dropped 40 points on his return to Dallas.

He called Luka’s performance in that game “beautiful.” Naji has every right to feel this way. When he was traded to the Mavs, he believed he’d be playing with the Slovenian sensation who dragged them to the finals in the season prior. Instead, he watched as the Mavs’ title and later postseason aspirations crumbled to dust after Luka’s trade.

Now, Kyrie Irving getting injured was a big part of that. But there’s no getting around the fact that the Anthony Davis experiment was not a success in any sense of the word. AD got injured in his debut and only played 9 games for the Mavs. As a result, they faltered. It was a surprise that they even managed to qualify for the Play-In tournament. But their failure there just reinforced how bad this trade was. And perhaps that also explains Nico Harrison’s end-of-season awards vote tally.

Nico Harrison receives 0 votes for 2025 NBA Executive of the Year after horrid Luka Doncic trade

Now, for a trade of this magnitude that fell on so many people’s radars, you’d think someone would agree with Nico Harrison. But the voting for the 2025 NBA Executive of the Year simply shows how unanimous the sentiment against this trade is. Sam Presti of the OKC Thunder won the award with 74 total.

But Nico? He got 0 votes. Yes, not even a single voter felt that Nico Harrison deserved to be called the Executive of the Year after trading away Luka Doncic. Interestingly, Lakers GM Rob Pelinka got only 11 votes even after bringing in one of the biggest stars in basketball to the Lakers. But perhaps the way the Lakers’ own season ended was a part of that.

Regardless, Naji Marshall’s words, and this just show how ill-fated this trade was. No one wanted it. No one saw it coming. And worst of all, it’s really benefited no one so far. Luka lost out on his supermax. LeBron James had to bid farewell to a close friend in Anthony Davis. And now, Nico Harrison just lost out on being the 2025 NBA Executive of the Year!