Charles Barkley: “There’s no way in the world Nico Harrison had the power to trade Luka Doncic unless the owner of the team signed off on it. I feel bad the way Nico’s being made a scapegoat.”

43 comments

  1. I mean, no one denies it, certainly not Dumont. Nico is still the person who advised Dumont to do so.

  2. Do people want hands on owners like Dolan who make all the decisions between playing sets of shitty blues music or hands off owners who hire qualified people and let them run the show? I would think it’s the latter but what do I know?

  4. Obviously it was done with the owners’ sign-off but Nico is still the driving force behind the trade and pushing for it to happen.

  5. The owners were clueless about basketball and decided to listen to a supposed expert opinion. Nico used this to his advantage to settle a one sided beef he had with Luka. 

  6. I genuinely don’t think these people actually know what a scapegoat is. You can’t be a “scapegoat” if it was YOUR IDEA. Dumont is obviously not absolved of blame but Nico went to him to pitch his trade idea and get Dumont’s permission. Why are people still acting like Dumont forced Nico to do this and is now putting all the blame on him

  7. He isn’t a scapegoat if it was his idea to do it. Sure he doesn’t have ultimate authority to do so but he does shoulder the majority of the blame.

  8. i genuinely dont understand how in 2025 people cant grasp that rich people can be dumb and tricked easily

  9. I like how he’s saying let’s not forget about the moves Nico did before all of this and how that worked for the team, while not mentioning that the owner had anything to do with those trades. Charles is biased and won’t talk bad about his friend.

  14. I mean the owners did approve, but why wouldn’t they?   Most people hate meddling owners, the owners trusted the person who was supposed to know more than them.  Maybe we’ll find out that this was a conspiracy, but until then it’s just unfortunate. 

  16. LOL at the idea Nico was unlucky because what he traded for, AD, has been hurt.

    You traded for an aging man who has a career full of injury issues… no sir thats not bad luck. Thats poor judgement. Nico owns 100% of this

  18. Barkley needs to read up on the reporting. Nico Harrison is the one who convinced the owners that Luka Doncic couldn’t stay in shape AND that it was possible he’d turn down the extension, too. It was Harrison who introduced the doubt into Dumont’s mind, and while Barkley is right that ownership is also responsible, the entire harebrained scheme to trade Luka and receive no net draft picks (because they sent one out to Utah, adding a bite of piss to seal the disaster) was entirely driven by Harrison.

    As to why Harrison did that, it’s been widely reported Harrison was keen to get rid of the last vestiges of the Cuban-Dirk era, getting rid of team employees who were associated with it. He wanted to make his own mark on the team, and in the end that effort included getting rid of Luka, who he felt that he couldn’t control.

    Note that Dumont is a rube, I wouldn’t excuse his incompetence and lack of leadership. Dumont is clearly a poor judge of character/expertise and shouldn’t be in a leadership position. Unfortunately, he married into the Adelson family and so he’s in charge thanks to his mother-in-law.

  19. “The person whos job it is to make personnel decisions is being scapegoated for the personnel decision he openly admits was his idea.” -Charles Barkley

  20. So Dumont made him fire the best training staff and medical staff in the league? Dumont made him hire staff that was LITERALLY UNQUALIFIED for the job? It was Dumont that alienated Dirk? It was Dumont that chose to build the team on the backs of injury prone old guys? It was Dumont that literally laughed at us and said if we were smart big brain basketball bois like him we’d “see the vision”? Y’all are acting like the Luka trade is the only thing he’s ever done but wrong but it was just the last straw. Not even the last one actually cause now Grimes is in Philly but I’m sure Dumont made him do that too. Everything Nico did right only looked like the right move because Luka was there to make it look good and the day he left was the same day this entire organization went from “title contender” to “fuck it rebuild.”

  22. I feel like the NBA, Lakers offered the deal to Dumont and Nico. Trade Luka, you get AD, Flagg and FRP. Nico was just dumb enough to believe it could work and Dumont didn’t know any better.

  26. Why are people suddenly defending a dude with 0 basketball experience outside of shoe deals that went and collapsed a franchise?

  28. How the hell is he made the scapegoat? That’s his damn job as the gm. To come up with trade ideas, crunch numbers, assemble the best roster possible for the franchise. He misjudged his calculations and thus royally fucked up the franchise.

    Anyone of us, if we had held that position of gm and made that same move, would’ve been fired just as well, if not in fewer days. Come on now.

  29. No matter whose fault it is, one thing is clear.

    Dumont is a fucking dumb fuck and I’m a Laker fan.

    Just by being a billionaire doesn’t make you smart.

    We need to stop putting billionaires on a pedestal when they’re no smarter than the average person with the exception of being lucky in wealth.

  30. Dumont said he signed off on the trade that was Nico’s idea and that he now regrets it. lol obviously. The problem with Dumont and Nick is they are stupid but have high powered jobs. That’s the only way you so royally screw over your fan base and organization. Trading Doncic would almost be like the Bulls trading Jordan in his prime which is why it was so shocking it happened. Nico doesn’t get a pass cause the owner signed off either. He wanted the trade and it blew up in his face and he’ll never have another GM job again.

  31. It’s not just Luka, though that is the super main reason. Trading off Quentin Grimes, not signing Brunson. All the people who he fired in the organization that was quality because they weren’t yes men. Kicking out fans that chanted fire Nico. acting like she knew better than everyone else. Pretending like Cooper Flagg was part of the plan. The guy was a shoe salesman who had no reason to be general managing. Chuck is very entertaining, and I love to watch him, but he’s usually wrong about most things.

  32. No one is denying that Dumont is also to blame. Dumont absolutely had to authorize it.

    The issue is that Nico was the one who went to that secret meeting and negotiated that deal in the first place, and let himself get fleeced by his own friend.

    Nico isnt a scapegoat, or a fallguy. Hell. Nico said that his formation of the team was his “vision”. And even reiterated so after they successfully drafted Cooper Flagg and said “now yall see the vision” during the post press conference.

  33. Chuck is way off base here. Nico started it, Nico negotiated it, Nico finished it. Dumont signed off on it, that’s true, but this was Nico’s baby.

  34. Why are they victimizing him now, he might not have the final say but he was highly influential and systematically remove the people around Luka before convincing the new owners to move Luka. I hate how the people in the media will shift narrative to squeeze more juice out of a story.

  36. What Chuck didnt mention in his rant while he was sticking up for Nico is that – fine you traded luka for AD. who is also an amazing talent, but you got only 1 pick and Max Christie. You should have gotten way more and that is the insult to injury, you didnt even get the same value back for Luka. Trade him! Sure! but if you do, get a kings ransom back for someone who could led you to the finals.

  37. My dude. He instigated and got the deal done. The owner was clueless, it is his fault, he isn’t a scapegoat. Stop the misdirection, anyone with a brain can see this.

  38. It’s crazy that all we hear is “Fire Nico.”

    There’s NO WAY the owner didn’t know.

  39. interesting, you can show a clear track record of being the biggest idiot, and the public will still try to offload the blame off you

    ​​Steph Curry presentation

    Fumbling Jalen Brunson for nothing in return

    Getting nothing in return for Tingus Pingus

    Getting nothing in return for Luka

    Thats all Nico bro. Matt Millen credentials with Matt Millen results

  40. This is a weird take, in any profession if you want to do something crazy and against the grain you are gonna have to convince your boss. If it goes sideways you are gonna get blamed. Your boss might get blame too but if your boss doesn’t have a boss the buck stops with you. This is just life for everyone, rich people crying that life isn’t fair is kinda wild to me. Like Dave Chappells shit that got old a long time ago

  41. Do people know what the term scapegoat means? This was Nico’s idea and Nico handled the negotiation.

    Yes, even a rookie owner should know better, but why should Nico get to keep his job because his boss didn’t stop his colossally stupid idea?

  42. I like Chuck but he is wrong, Nico convinced ownership to do the trade. It is Nico’s fault, Dumont is second in line

  43. It’s not Nico’s fault? 

    It’s his idea, he pushed it and sold it, he’s not innocent at all. Chuck doesn’t know what’s going on

Leave a Reply