Mavericks Hire Mike Schmitz As Gm, Officially Replacing Nico Harrison In New Era For The Franchise

The Dallas Mavericks have hired Mike Schmitz as their new general manager, the team announced on Friday afternoon.

The move coincides with a front office overhaul in Dallas and follows Masai Ujiri being hired as the team’s new president in early May.

There has been a microscope on who this hire would be, given who they are replacing. Former Mavericks GM Nico Harrison orchestrated the infamous trade of Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Following months of calls for his job, Harrison was fired in November 2025 after the Mavericks began the 2025-2026 season with a 3-8 record. Dallas had been conducting its GM search ever since.

After reaching the 2024 NBA Finals, the Mavericks finished the 2025 season with a 39-43 record and were overshadowed by the blockbuster Dončić trade. Things went from bad to worse this season as Dallas traded away Anthony Davis (a key piece of the Dončić deal) and finished 26-56.

Schmitz will be charged with helping turn around the organization. While this past season was a down year, the Mavericks seemed to have found a franchise star in Cooper Flagg. Dallas will also have a 6.7% chance at the No. 1 overall pick in Sunday’s draft lottery, and a 29.0% chance at a top-four pick to help the new GM get started.

Schmitz was most recently the assistant GM with the Portland Trail Blazers. He was suspended for two weeks in April after the NBA conducted an investigation and found that he and fellow Portland assistant GM Sergi Oliva had illegal contact with Yang Hansen two years before Portland drafted him, per The Athletic.

The duo had scouted Hansen in 2023 in China, but teams are prohibited from contacting players before they make a declaration for the NBA Draft.

Schmitz joined Portland’s front office in 2022 as the assistant GM. When the move was announced, it was speculated that his primary focus would be on taking over the Trail Blazers’ domestic and international scouting departments.

Prior to that, he had spent six years working with ESPN as a draft analyst. Schmitz also worked for Yahoo Sports as an NBA Draft analyst and as a beat writer covering the Phoenix Suns.