Following Kyrie Irving’s demand for a trade on Friday, potential suitors have begun to line up. Among the teams reportedly interested in the mercurial Nets star is the Dallas Mavericks, though they apparently have one significant question to consider.
Would Irving’s personality mesh with Dallas star Luka Doncic’s, or potentially derail the potential MVP’s and team’s championship chase?
It’s one of the many questions, according to The Athletic, that the organization has been working through.
Luka Doncic talks to Kyrie Irving after a game in Brooklyn. NBAE via Getty Images
HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto also reported Saturday that while the Mavericks have been linked to Irving in trade talks, league sources have downplayed the team’s chances of landing him, with Spencer Dinwiddie, Theo Pinson and front office members Matt Riccardi and Andrew Baker having spent time with Irving in Brooklyn.
Meanwhile, despite Doncic’s possible recent injury concern, the Mavericks’ star is keeping Dallas afloat in fourth place in Western Conference. The 23-year-old four-time All-Star and former Rookie of the Year is averaging 33.4 points, 8.9 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game. Without him in the lineup, Dallas is 0-6 this season.
Irving, 30, is averaging 27.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.3 assists and would be another shooting asset to Doncic, giving the Mavericks a formidable 1-2 duo.
But Irving also brings baggage, be it social media run-ins or the anti-Semitic controversy that engulfed him and Brooklyn earlier this season.
Still, Irving won a championship alongside LeBron James in Cleveland in 2016 and on the floor brings the kind of game that would instantly elevate the Mavericks into the title picture.
If Irving can work with James, who plays just as dominant of a game as Doncic, there seems to be belief Irving could co-exist in Dallas. But the Mavericks aren’t the only interested party.
Other questions also exist, as noted by The Athletic, including that while Dallas will have four future first-round picks to offer in a trade after this year’s draft, it doesn’t have the stockpile that other teams in the NBA do. The Mavericks are also light on young future star players.
Meanwhile, other potential options for Irving, as The Post’s Brian Lewis noted, include the Miami Heat, L.A. Lakers and Phoenix Suns. Either way, a decision will have to be made one way or another by Thursday’s 3 p.m. deadline.
