LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Beleaguered Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison on Tuesday defended his decision to trade away Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, insisting he had “no regrets” over the deal that shocked the entire National Basketball Association (NBA).

Harrison has become a hate-figure among Mavericks fans in the wake of the shock trade in February that sent Doncic to Los Angeles with Anthony Davis heading in the opposite direction.

The scrutiny Harrison received for previous trades he mentioned, such as the 2023 deal for Kyrie Irving, doesn’t compare with the outpouring of disgust for the Doncic trade from a community that appears unwilling to trust the franchise again anytime soon.

The shocking deal was finalized in the middle of the night and Doncic was ripped away from the fan base without much of a goodbye, until his emotional return last Wednesday.

The tears he made no attempt to conceal suggest he never wanted to leave Dallas and would have signed the $345-million supermax deal he was owed in the offseason.

Chants of “Fire Nico” have been a regular occurrence at Mavs games ever since, and rang out again last week when Doncic and the Lakers played in Dallas.

However, in comments to Dallas media on Tuesday, Harrison was adamant that the decision to move on Doncic was in the best interests of the franchise.

“There’s no regrets on the trade,” Harrison was quoted as saying by ESPN.

“Part of my job is to do the best thing for the Mavericks, not only today, but also in the future, and some of the decisions I’m going to make are going to be unpopular. That’s my job, and I have to stand by it.”

Harrison — who said he hasn’t talked to Doncic since the trade — elaborated on the need to keep the deal with Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka a secret, saying it would be irresponsible to dangle a star player such as Doncic.

“The players dictate where they go, and you can’t shop your best player,” Harrison said.

“A lot of trades that you think are going to happen don’t happen. A trade might not work, and then they have to ultimately play under the scrutiny of being shopped.”

Aside from Harrison’s strong desire to acquire Davis, an All-NBA and All-Defensive player, some reports indicate that Doncic’s conditioning level and off-the-court habits, such as drinking beer and smoking hookah, were key factors in the decision to trade him.

“Luka is an extremely talented player,” Harrison said.

“We all know. We’ve all seen. He’s probably dropped the most points when maybe he’s not in the best conditioning, so he can do that. That’s not an issue.”

“When you make a trade like this, you have to look at it in its totality. It’s very thorough. We looked at everything, and again, we just felt it was in the best interest of our team going forward.”

“I keep saying this, but defense wins championships, and I think this gives us the best opportunity to not only win, but it gives us the deepest team and the most versatile team. Not only today, but going forward.”

Although Doncic guided Dallas to last season’s NBA Finals, Harrison maintained that the acquisition of Davis’s defensive talents would enable Dallas to challenge for championships in future.

“Our philosophy, like I said, going forward is defense wins championships and we’re built on defense. And this trade cements us for that,” Harrison said.

Harrison was speaking ahead of the Mavericks’ must-win play-in tournament game in California on Wednesday against the Sacramento Kings, where a defeat will mark the end of the team’s season.