The Mavs Have Already Planned To Beef Up Security During Home Games Because They're Concerned About The Safety Of Nico Harrison

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Coming off a massive road win over the Celtics last night despite being down 3 starters, there are reasons to be excited/optimistic about what the very immediate future of the Mavs can look like. It's not like they shouldn't be good, and when you think of a potential playoff path, there as some ways in which this new version of the Mavs may be better suited for who they have have to face in their journey back up the mountain.

The problem of course is no Mavs fan gives a shit about that right now. Even if all that stuff might be true, when you rip a 25 year old franchise icon away from a fanbase like Nico Harrison did, the context becomes irrelevant. Nobody cares about how their defense may have just improved in the short term. Nobody cares that they may be a tough individual matchup for teams like OKC now with this added size element and one less person for SGA to attack defensively on the perimeter.

What people care about is Luka, and the fact that they were robbed of a future with a homegrown generational talent. 

As you can imagine, fans are bullshit at Nico Harrison and rightfully so. It'll take some time for that to die down, and my guess is it will only help if AD and Max Christie prove to be successful with their new team even if that won't completely change how fans feel. With the Mavs returning home tomorrow to play the Rockets for the first time since the trade, the organization clearly knows what a stick situation that's about to be 

First things first. Death threats, racial shit, that stuff is awful and you are the scum of the earth if you do anything even close to that. You want to yell "Fuck Nico!" at the top of your lungs? That's all fine and good. But taking it to those levels is insane. Even if you're hurt as a fan, don't be a scumbag about it.

At the same time, it's also the least surprising news of all time that this is how fans are reacting and that the team feels the need to beef up security for home games. Nico had to realize this was going to be the reaction to trading Luka right? Or maybe he was so naive based on the gaslighting job by Rob Pelinka that he didn't think fans would be this upset? Who knows. I can't imagine that was his thought process but then again, nothing about this trade makes sense. 

The entire situation is going to make Mavs home games fascinating to watch. When 18,000+ people are all upset and hate the organization with a passion right now, is there even a home court advantage? Have we ever seen an entire crowd of a team that could still very well make a run and has legit talent on the roster collectively boo their own team while games go on? Chants for the GM to go fuck himself during every possession? In some ways you feel for AD/Christie, this cannot be how they envisioned joining a new team, so I imagine Mavs fans will do their best to cheer them on while making sure they spend the rest of the time flipping the double bird to Nico Harrison and Mavs ownership. 

My question is, how long does this last? It feels like this is going to be the vibe around the Mavs and their arena for a long ass time, regardless of how the team performs right? Again, it's not about this group and how successful they might be, it's about not having Luka. If these same fans also have to watch Luka succeed in LA? Yikes. It sounds a little insane to suggest that something like this might have changed the franchise forever and what the environment is in that arena forever, but that's truly how pissed Mavs fans are. Shit, I'm not even a Mavs fan and I feel for them. I'm not sure I'd ever be able to forgive everyone involved for a situation like this, even if they were to win a title.

I've lived through franchise icons getting traded, but at least that came in Year 16 and after a title. I've lived through some of my favorite homegrown players getting traded in their prime without winning a title, and it stinks out loud. At the same time NONE of those players was a 25 year old MVP candidate. I can't even comprehend what that feels like.