Target on His Back, Nico Harrison Fires Multiple Mavericks Employees After Anthony Davis Trade Failure

After receiving 0 votes for NBA Executive of the Year, Nico Harrison continues to make changes. This time, it’s not the All-Star trade of Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis, but more changes to the team’s key personnel in the locker room. One of these moves previously led to a disconnect not only for then player Doncic but also franchise legend Dirk Nowitzki. So, what’s the change?

Mavericks GM Nico Harrison is making major changes to the team’s health and performance group again. This time, the dismissals include athletic performance director Keith Belton, Harrison’s hire last summer, and head athletic trainer Dionne Calhoun.

After enduring a brutal string of injuries to stars like Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving, the GM believes a roster shake-up might be necessary to stabilize the team. That perspective is backed by reports highlighting the Mavericks’ injury woes during the 2024–25 season—players missed a combined 345 games due to injury or illness, making them the second most injury-plagued team in the league, according to ESPN’s BPI.

For the third consecutive offseason, the Dallas Mavericks made changes in their health and performance group. Calhoun spent 21 seasons in Dallas and was promoted to the head athletic trainer role in 2019. She was one of the final personnel left from the staff of former Mavs director of health and performance Casey Smith, who was fired in August 2023. It’s Smith’s dismissal that has caused issues between the franchise and the franchise legend to grow.

As per The Stein Line reports, while Dirk Nowitzki still has an office at the Mavericks facility, though “it essentially sits dark.” The discontent is not only from the Luka trade but also about the treatment of longtime Mavs trainer Casey Smith. Smith’s firing “is believed to be among the key factors,” as Nowitzki’s distance from the Mavericks organization grows.

What was the reason for Nico Harrison to take this drastic step?

Keith Belton, a former NFL fullback who had been the director of football performance at UCLA, was a last-year hire. He replaced longtime Mavs athletic performance director Jeremy Holsopple last summer. But previously, reports suggested that Belton lacked key paperwork required as per the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement. It states that a strength coach for a team needs to have certifications from the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Which Belton did not possess. But that was not the main reason, apparently.

ESPN reported that there was severe tension between Belton and first-year director of health and performance Johann Bilsborough. The latter is still part of the organization. Meanwhile, the report further added that the organization’s human relations department investigated a loud, heated verbal confrontation between the two at the team’s practice facility.

Sources described Belton as a “glorified cheerleader” who lacked the strategic acumen valued by Bilsborough, the department head. Tensions escalated following a dispute over the management of Dereck Lively II’s ankle injury, further straining their already fragile working relationship.

The argument between Belton and Bilsborough reportedly was from a disagreement regarding the treatment of Dereck Lively II. The Dallas center Lively was on the sidelines since Jan. 14 with a stress fracture in his right ankle. Under Belton’s supervision, the 21-year-old star went through an intense return-to-play workout. But the problem was that it was a day before a CT scan revealed that the big man had a stress fracture in his right ankle.

Nico Harrison declined to comment about the changes in the locker room. But every move of his comes under the spotlight after the massive trade to bring in Anthony Davis for Luka Doncic.