NBA legend Charles Barkley claims on the Inside the NBA show that now-fired Mavs GM Nico Harrison is being labeled the scapegoat of the Luka Doncic trade. He claims "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."

Which is true ... until you remember how the Mavericks' new owners are not basketball people; they are casino people. Harrison frequently spoke on record of the trade being his doing.

D Magazine writer Jake Kemp put it profoundly via The Dumb Zone podcast, with a reminder that these messages are often being pushed with an unnecessary racial agenda in mind.

So, as a the dust begins to settle ... is Nico really a scapegoat?