“Take the ‘L’ !” – Barkley blasts Nico after latest press conference debacle

Sir Charles sounds off, giving Nico Harrison some tough-love advice

Since the Luka Doncic trade shook the NBA landscape on February 2^nd, Nico Harrison has only taken meaningful questions from the media on three separate occasions. The first was an unsettling affair alongside head coach Jason Kidd the day after the trade, as part of a pre-game press conference. Since that time, a veil of silence fell, only to be broken more than two months later at the insistence of Dallas Mavericks owner Patrick Dumont. Originally rumored to be scheduled prior to Doncic’s return to Dallas on April 9^th, the semi-private invite-only meeting didn’t take place until nearly a week after the Mavericks match-up with LA. That was followed by another sit-down which basically amounted to an end-of-season media exit interview yesterday.

Much like the first two, the latest garnered its fair share of scrutiny as everyone outside of Nico Harrison’s immediate orbit attempts to make sense of the Doncic trade. One of the more recognizable faces in the sea of madness is none other than Charles Barkley. During last night’s broadcast of the NBA Playoffs on TNT, Barkley took time out for a 45-second monologue. Actively seeking the camera that was honed-in on him, and with co-host Kenny Smith dropping an “OK, uh-oh” at what he anticipated was coming, Sir Charles addressed his friend Harrison directly with a few nuggets of wisdom, two of which stand out above the rest.

“Man, don’t do no more press conferences,” and “This war is over, brother… you’ve taken the L[oss].”

To some degree, this is just Barkley being Barkley. Still, he really nails what Harrison probably needs to hear right now. There is no way to recover at this time and holding these press conferences is not helping the cause at this point. Harrison left a pot to boil for nearly two-months. When he finally broke the seal, it was vis-a-vis a cloak-and-dagger (no cameras, no recording devices) meeting with guests who were given barely 24-hour’s notice to attend.

Hindsight is 20/20, but Harrison needed to act more quickly and more openly than he did. Each misstep required a course-correction that has unfortunately made things worse. Now that the season is over and exit interviews are complete, Harrison and the organization may finally be better positioned to take Barkley’s unsolicited advice – take the loss and shift focus toward stringing together some wins. Harrison is not in a position to cease all press conferences as Barkley suggests (despite his best efforts for two months), nor should he. He needs to be available in the customary manner with something other than the trade to discuss.

To his credit, Harrison has not back-pedaled from his decision – he insists he holds the best interests of the Mavericks and that the deals he orchestrated are in fact intelligent ones on which a championship hinges. Think what you will of that, he at least holds conviction in his actions. He now needs to focus on the upcoming draft and free agency, with future public comments holding an eye toward next season. For all of our sake, he needs to find a way to change the narrative. Something he probably could have done in February had he not delayed things this long.