![]() Irving can, of course, walk and therefore leave the Mavs holding an empty bag while costing them all the assets they spent to get him.Ģ. Three things can happen in this Irving-Mavs situation, and two aren’t good:ġ. But that’s the exception and not the rule. ![]() At least Kawhi Leonard, who came to Toronto in a midseason trade with the Spurs, won a title in 2019 before leaving four months later in free agency for the Clippers. 1 in every front office’s guidebook: Never, ever roll the dice that much on someone who can walk he becomes a rental if he does. The problem was they traded all that for a star who’s just a few months from unrestricted free agency. With a win over the Kings on Wednesday, has Dallas managed to salvage a shot at the playoffs with 2 games to play?Īnd the risk really wasn’t what the Mavericks surrendered to get Irving in the trade (Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith are solid players but not in Irving’s class in terms of impact). Mostly, they needed a shakeup to pacify Doncic, a temperamental top 10 talent who’s just touching his prime. ![]() The Mavs were unable to pay Jalen Brunson when they had the chance - Cuban blamed Rick Brunson, Jalen’s father and a Knicks assistant coach, for that - before he left for the Knicks last summer and that proved costly. The supporting cast surrounding Doncic was primarily role players with limitations. They just had to find a trade partner desperate for a talented point guard who, shall we delicately say, does things his way. So the Nets, after reaching the end of their patience and having no championships for their troubles, finally pulled the plug on the promise of Kevin Durant and Irving together and started a new blueprint. He went to the Brooklyn Nets bringing realistic championship hopes and then became entangled in anti-vaccination stances, a link to a controversial video, suspensions, defiance and finally, a trade demand. He left LeBron James, and who does that? He pledged his allegiance to the Boston Celtics, then bailed. Ever since he dropped the championship-winning 3-pointer for the Cleveland Cavaliers against the Golden State Warriors in 2016, Irving has embarked on an unfulfilling journey of confusion. Fair or not, based on his recent history, he’s the Joker walking away from the hospital in “The Dark Knight” while the explosions roar behind him. The elephant in the room is Irving, obviously. There are a lot of anxious moments ahead for owner Mark Cuban, general manager Nico Harrison and coach Jason Kidd as they try to make sense of it all. It puts the franchise in a slippery situation, partly of its own doing. The first one would be bad, the second catastrophic. Will Doncic, who expressed unhappiness with this collapse, ask for a trade?ĭallas has slid out of the playoff chase with Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving on the court. Will Irving, an unrestricted free agent in July, sign with another team? The Mavericks then doubled their star power in order to double their chances of returning to that level, and maybe someday, going beyond it.Īnd if that hasn’t been bad enough, the ripple effect caused by this stumble could be equally damaging going into this summer and next season. This is a team that reached the Western Conference finals last season without Irving. You could excuse this if it were a rebuilding situation, which it isn’t. So they’re now 9-16 in that stretch and playing “desperation basketball,” according to Irving. Expectations for the Mavs quickly caved under the weight of losing streaks and blown opportunities since Irving walked into the door. They’ll likely need to win out - Friday against the Bulls ( 8:30 ET, League Pass) and Sunday against the Spurs ( 3:30 ET, League Pass) - because the team they’re chasing for the final AT&T Play-In Tournament spot, the Oklahoma City Thunder, holds the tiebreaker. That’s really the only way to describe the situation in Dallas. Surely everyone saw this coming when Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving joined forces in February and gave the Dallas Mavericks the requisite number of stars who historically not only prosper together, but win championships, right? Well, the Mavericks are flirting with disaster heading into the season’s final weekend. Your team compiles the fifth … uh, worst record in the NBA since the splashy pairing was announced and somehow lands on the cusp of missing the playoffs altogether. ![]() What happens when you pair one dynamic creator with another and let the two basketball savants cook? Of course you know what happens. Kyrie Irving (left) and Luka Doncic have struggled to find a flow together in Dallas. ![]()
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