The Dallas Mavericks’ acquisition of Kyrie Irving at the NBA Trade Deadline was arguably the second biggest move of the year.
Obviously Kevin Durant going to the Phoenix Suns was the most landscape-changing deal that was made this season, but Irving’s transition is a close second.
The big question now is how Irving and Luka Doncic will fit alongside one another.
This week Doncic attempted to address that during a session with reporters.
“I [am] just excited to play with him. He’s an amazing player,” he said.
Doncic speaks about his first game with Irving. “I was just excited to play with him. He’s an amazing player.” pic.twitter.com/PWsnJBLgzf
— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) February 12, 2023
That was after their first game together. On Monday night, the Mavericks faced off against the Minnesota Timberwolves. This time things didn’t go as swimmingly.
In the closing seconds, this is how Dallas ended up finishing the game:
McDaniels & Ant haunting Luka & Kyrie with the game on the line.https://t.co/qJ5MMzaKgM pic.twitter.com/RToIek20a7
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) February 14, 2023
Not great.
Doncic attempted to explain what transpired after the fact.
“I was trying to get him a shot. He was trying to get me a shot. At the end, nobody got a shot.” pic.twitter.com/fffkmP1JCL
— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) February 14, 2023
“I was trying to get him a shot,” Doncic said. “He was trying to get me a shot. At the end, nobody got a shot.”
Irving was similarly unhappy with how that final sequence went down.
Irving asked about the last play, put hands on head and says “Oh, man, I’m still emotionally trying to recover . . .” pic.twitter.com/gXYcw3uPEi
— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) February 14, 2023
“Oh, man, I’m still emotionally trying to recover,” Irving admitted.
It will be interesting to see how this little experiment between Irving and Doncic ultimately works out.
Rob Pelinka made it very clear this past week why the Los Angeles Lakers didn’t get Irving ahead of the NBA Trade Deadline.
Brittany is out here celebrating the Super Bowl harder than the Chiefs’ players. https://t.co/sGZWcFTgRE
— Game 7 (@game7__) February 14, 2023
That said, it really wouldn’t be all that shocking to see all parties involved retry that team-up over the summer.
Last season without Irving the Mavs made the Western Conference Finals.
What will the addition of Irving mean for their playoff fortunes in 2023? Time will tell.
Related: Molly Qerim’s Super Bowl Outfit Causes A Stir (Photos)
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
