When the Dallas Mavericks traded superstar Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers last year, it was heralded as one of the worst NBA transactions of all time.

Then-GM Nico Harrison’s reasoning, that the Slovenian star’s lack of defensive effort was too much of a liability (despite having just led them to the NBA Finals), was laughed off, given Dončić’s production and proven worth.

In the year since the trade, Harrison was fired, and Anthony Davis, the star that Dončić was traded for, played 29 games for Dallas before getting shipped off to the Washington Wizards. If not for (somehow) getting the No. 1 pick in the draft and selecting Cooper Flagg, it might have been a catastrophic time right now for the Mavericks.

However, Dončić hasn’t done enough to completely shed the label of being a defensive liability. The NBA media world has seemingly turned on the Lakers’ star in recent weeks, as he’s become the face of the league’s 24th-ranked defense.

Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green has watched all of this play out and recently took the NBA media to task for the double standard in how they covered Harrison’s comments.

Draymond Green calls out the media for having a double standard with Nico Harrison for trading Luka because he didn’t believe in some of his habits 👀

“So many people crushed Nico for the reasons that he gave. When Nico gave those reasons everybody said he’s ridiculous, he’s… pic.twitter.com/IM5N9q9iyW

— NBA Courtside (@NBA__Courtside) February 27, 2026

“I think we were all quite shocked and baffled to see Luka Dončić traded away from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers. You just don’t see franchise players that young traded… It’s just not a normal thing. And so we were all shocked by that.

“Nico Harrison continued to give his reasonings on why he believed that was the right thing to do for the Dallas Mavericks organization. Was it the right thing or wrong thing? I’m not a Dallas Maverick, I don’t really care if it was the right thing or the wrong thing. But what I do care about is, so many people crushed Nico Harrison for the reasons that he gave. And when Nico gave those reasonings, everybody said, ‘He’s ridiculous. He’s crazy.’ This has nothing to do with Luca, by the way, what I’m saying.

“But now, when I turn on a TV, all I see is everybody in the media who crushed Nico Harrison, who essentially aided in him getting fired, regurgitating the same things that Nico Harrison was saying. And I struggle with that because I haven’t seen one person come out and say, ‘Hey, Nico, I’m sorry for the things I said about you when you made that move, because I just said the same thing out of my mouth.’

“Nico gave his reason as the general manager of a team of why he thought that was the right move. And everybody said, ‘You’re a f*cking idiot. You should be fired. Worst general manager in NBA history.’ And now all of you people are saying the same thing. But no one has said, maybe Nico was right. Maybe Nico was validated in the move he made. Maybe Nico shouldn’t have been fired. No one has said that.

“But everybody said, Nico should be fired because he traded Luka. I struggle with this.”

Green brings up a decent point, but he’s also oversimplifying the situation. There were some defenders of the trade at the time. Also, the biggest criticism of the deal was that Harrison didn’t get nearly what he should have for trading away one of the league’s best players in his prime. Even if Harrison was right to be concerned about Dončić’s defensive lapses, he should have had more to show for trading him away.

If Flagg grows into a superstar and one day leads the Mavericks to an NBA championship, perhaps Harrison will be able to gloat and say he told you so, but for the time being, even with Dončić’s current struggles, it’s still hard to justify how that all went down.