Getty Kyrie Irving of the Dallas Mavericks.
The first half-season of the Dallas Mavericks‘ experiment with the pairing of Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic didn’t go according to plan. Dallas collapsed, falling from fourth place all the way to 11th in the Western Conference.
After two months of mediocre basketball, the Mavericks will look to re-sign Irving, whose deal expires this summer.
An anonymous NBA executive recently discussed the situation in Dallas with Heavy Sports’ Steve Bulpett. The source told Bulpett that he isn’t sure that things will ever work with Irving and Mavericks, saying that “it’s not a winning situation.”
“You get into a relationship with Kyrie at your own risk,” the executive said. “I don’t see how him and Luka work, never did. I guess Dallas felt it was worth a shot, but even now it’s hard to see them getting the right pieces to put around them. I’m not sure you can. You’ve got two ball-dominant guys who neither one really knows how to play without the ball, and neither one knows how to defend. It’s not a winning situation.”
The source added that in order to compete, Dallas needs to bring in two way players.
“If you want to win championships, you have to have two-way players. They don’t have two-way players. Neither one of those two guys want to sully themselves with the arduous task of playing defense on a night in-night out basis. So what happens is they don’t, and sooner or later the other dudes say the hell with this.”
Nico Harrison Wants Mavericks To Add Defense and Rebounding
While Irving and Doncic aren’t known for their defense, it doesn’t mean that the Mavericks can’t surround them with guys who are.
General manager Nico Harrison told reporters, earlier this month, that he plans to do just that in the offseason.
“I think for us going into the offseason, the two biggest things that we need to work on is defense and rebounding,” Harrison said via the Dallas Mavericks official YouTube channel. “That’s going to be addressed.”
The lack of help around Dallas’ superstars was a glaring issue throughout the back half of the season. Both Irving and Doncic missed some time down the stretch, and the supporting cast continuously failed to get the job done.
Nico Harrison Is ‘Optimistic’ About New Kyrie Irving Mavs Deal
As for Dallas’ main goal of keeping Irving around, Harrison has a good feeling about that. During the same availability, he shared that he had “optimism” that the superstar guard would stick around for another contract.
“I think the things he said along the way about how he feels here, how he feels appreciated, how he feels accepted, and allowed to be himself. I think those are the things he’s said kind of consistently, and that gives me the optimism that he wants to be here,” Harrison explained.
The 33-year-old guard wound up in Dallas after requesting a trade from the Brooklyn Nets right before this season’s deadline.
Since his arrival, he appeared in 20 regular-season games for the Mavericks playing about 38.2 minutes each time. Irving was good for about 27 points, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds per game, while shooting 51% from the floor and 39.2% from beyond the arc.