Mavericks’ Jason Kidd Shares Change He Hopes to See After Nico Harrison Firing

The Mavericks are set to play their first game after firing general manager Nico Harrison on Wednesday as they take on the Suns at the American Airlines Center. The game takes place one day after Harrison’s firing and two days afters fans were chanting “Fire Nico” while the Mavericks were attempting to make free throws during a close loss to the Bucks.

Since the Mavericks shockingly traded Luka Dončić for Anthony Davis last February, fans have regularly chanted “Fire Nico” during the team’s home games. The Mavericks’ 3–8 start to the season hasn’t done much to suppress these chants either.

With Harrison now gone, Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd hopes the team won’t have to go through those chants again, which he called “disrespectful.”

“We can only hope that we don’t have to go through that again because it was a little disrespectful because the guys are playing hard and they’re trying to win. With that chant during when we’re shooting free throws, it’s very disrespectful. But understanding that they got their point across, the fans, but we have to move forward. I understand the healing process for the fans, but these guys are playing hard. Ever since the trade, these guys have given everything.”

Kidd added, “Again, we have a lot of guys that are in street clothes. We got over, I think 100 million dollars sitting on the sideline, and we’re still competing, we’re still in games and we’re learning how to win. I would hope that we start to get a little credit for that because these guys, they can hear those things and they feel really disrespected. It’s hard to keep guys here in this league when they start to think that the home team is not home and becomes a visiting place, and so hopefully that changes tonight.”

Forward P.J. Washington said, “I felt the same way. I felt like people weren’t really cheering us on, it felt like, from a player standpoint. Hopefully that changes.” He also said, “… Hopefully everyone starts cheering now and be quiet during free throws.”

Star rookie Cooper Flagg’s mom, Kelly, also expressed that her son and teammates shouldn’t have to listen to those chants while they attempt free throws during important parts of the game. She wrote on X, “It was about the fact that the fans were chanting during our free throws. Our guys had nothing to do with what went down.”

Since Harrison is gone, the Mavericks will hope that games at the American Airlines Center feel like home games again.

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