Mark Cuban spent months orchestrating a power struggle to remove Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison and regain influence with new governor Patrick Dumont, according to more than a dozen team sources. Harrison was fired November 11 after the controversial Luka Doncic trade backfired, ending a simmering battle between the former majority owner and his handpicked GM.
“Mark’s been trying a palace coup for months,” one team source told ESPN. The struggle culminated after Harrison traded Doncic to the Lakers for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and draft picks, a deal widely criticized across the league.
Harrison deliberately cut Cuban out of basketball decisions after Dumont purchased majority control for $3.5 billion in December 2023. The GM told Dumont he no longer wanted to deal with Cuban’s interference, sources said. When Cuban sold his majority stake in the Mavericks, he had planned to still run basketball operations “forevermore.”
“Nico basically said, ‘Dude, I don’t want to deal with Mark anymore. He’s too much,'” one team source said.
Harrison leveraged Dallas’ 2024 Finals run to convince Dumont he deserved full autonomy. He built what sources described as a “moat” around basketball operations, minimizing Cuban’s access and rarely consulting the former owner on personnel moves.
Cuban accelerated efforts to fire Harrison after Dallas lucked into the No. 1 pick in June 2025, multiple team sources said. He warned Dumont over the summer that the roster lacked creators and shooting, concerns Harrison dismissed.
The Mavericks rank second-to-last in offense this season. Cuban now serves on Dumont’s basketball committee alongside coach Jason Kidd and assistant GMs Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi.
“He’s a consultant, not a decision-maker,” another source said. “But he’s at the table.”
Dallas is exploring trading Davis before the deadline as the 4-11 Mavericks pivot to building around rookie Cooper Flagg.