If Kyrie Irving can’t make it work with another new team, it won’t be on the Mavericks
Kyrie Irving respectfully asks that no one ask him the question everyone wants to have answered, which is whether he will sign a new contract with the Dallas Mavericks this summer when he can become a free agent.
Got that?
Don’t blow this for the Mavs.
Despite the amount of tampering that is routine practice in the NBA, no one knows where Kyrie Irving will sign, including Kyrie himself.
It could be with the Mavericks. Maybe the Bucks. The Lakers, maybe? Don’t rule out the Astros or Red Wings, either.
This is Kyrie Irving, where every scenario is in play.
The only thing the Mavs, and their fans, can do is to just enjoy the amusement park ride that is The Ky’, one of the NBA’s more entertaining, and aggravating, attractions.
The mercurial guard made his home debut with his fourth new NBA team on Monday night, and there was a noticeable lightning bolt of energy in the American Airlines Center for a mid-week regular season game against the T-Wolves.
The gym was legit full at tipoff. By the middle of the fourth quarter it sounded like a playoff game.
It took a while for this show to get moving; the Mavs trailed by 18 to start the fourth quarter, and then The Ky went off.
He scored 26 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter, and the Mavs had a chance to tie it with 13 seconds remaining. But Kyrie and Luka Doncic botched the final possession as they kept passing it to each other, and they didn’t even get a shot off.
“It’s on me to be smarter in those situations,” Kyrie said of final possession. “I really wanted this one tonight, at home. Didn’t go our way. To all Dallas fans I apologize; not even getting a shot off.”
The Wolves won, 124-121.
Kyrie on being Kyrie
On Feb. 6, the Mavs traded guards Dorian Finney-Smith and Spencer Dinwiddie along what feels like about 56 future draft picks to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Irving and veteran forward Markieff Morris.
A few hours before tip-off on Monday, Irving met with us media scum; he comes across as a bright, funny, and introspective guy. A bit full of it, but most of us are.
I asked him why he thought his personality appears not to mesh with everybody within the NBA, and if at this point in his life if he cares about that perception/truth.
“Oh, man, I would love to be well liked by everybody; how the world would be so perfect me,” he answered, a bit tongue in cheek. “That’s just not it. We have family members we don’t necessarily get along with all of the time.”
(Personally, that list grows by the day).
“Friends that we don’t necessarily talk to every day, but the genuine love that you have in your heart is the only thing that you can really control,” he said. “I just think that if you try to get to know me within this work space and you expect me to be on all the time, and say the right things and do the right things it’s ... it’s not, it’s not, it’s not something you can really expect from somebody.”
How he said this matters.
He wasn’t saying this defensively. He wasn’t issuing a warning. He’s saying he’s human.
Which is fine.
But his time with the Cavaliers, Celtics and most recently the Nets ended for a reason.
It wasn’t like he was playing on bad teams, or surrounded by pack of can’t-play spares.
He was playing with LeBron James in Cleveland. Kyrie was teammates with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown in Boston. Irving was running next to Kevin Durant and James Harden in Brooklyn.
And all of those stints ended. Those stints ended due in part because of Kyrie.
Helluva thing to admit to ourselves we’re the reason something bombed; 99.9 percent of pro jocks can’t do it during their careers. About 99 percent can admit to it after their careers.
Why Kyrie with the Mavs can work
There is a good chance the Mavs could have strawberries delivered to Irving’s house, a limo that drives him to his mailbox, and cater every single practice and game plan to Kyrie’s preferences and it still may not matter.
He may just be a Type A, fussy malcontent who doesn’t know how to enjoy his team, and constantly romanticizes about that green lawn in another NBA city.
However this grand experiment plays out, know the Mavs will do everything possible to make it work, and to keep Kyrie’s lawn looking like the 18th green at Augusta National. If this doesn’t work it won’t be because of the Mavs.
There is no more player-friendly organization in the NBA than the Mavs. There is no more player-friendly owner in the NBA than Mark Cuban.
The Mavs hired Nico Harrison to be their GM in part to make relationships with personalities like Kyrie Irving work.
Nico, who was an executive with Nike before he took the Mavs GM job, has known Kyrie since he was a kid. That should be worth something.
Harrison said he doesn’t see the trade for Irving as a risk.
“I see the risk in not doing it,” Harrison said.
“Touche,” was Irving’s response.
Considering how little the Mavs had to offer other teams in their pre-NBA trade deadline pursuit of talent, there was no way they could reject the Nets’ offer for Irving, regardless of the fact that he comes here with 747 full of baggage.
Doncic was going to sign off on this trade without so much as a follow up question.
Since he’s arrived to the team, the closest superstar talent he’s had to run with was Kristaps Porzingis, whose knees were never going to allow him to be healthy enough to realize his ability.
Luka wants to win, and to win the Mavs need more talent.
Kyrie Irving is the talent the Mavs need to win.
Maybe it will work, so just try to enjoy The Ky, and for the love of God don’t ask him if he’s going to re-sign here.
This story was originally published February 13, 2023 at 8:58 PM.
