Getty Kyrie Irving of the Dallas Mavericks.
Now that the trade deadline has come and gone, the Dallas Mavericks will turn their attention toward the buyout market. They made their big-time splash when they landed Kyrie Irving, and now it’s all about rounding out the roster.
Dallas has already reportedly agreed to a deal with Justin Holiday following his buyout with the Houston Rockets, and now, they might be targeting a veteran big man. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Mavericks brought in LaMarcus Aldridge for a workout.
“Free agent F/C LaMarcus Aldridge is working out for the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday, sources tell ESPN. Aldridge, a seven-time All-Star, averaged 12.9 points in 47 games for Brooklyn a season ago,” Wojnarowski tweeted.
Aldridge last played during the 2021-22 season when he suited up for the Brooklyn Nets and was a teammate of Irving. The last game he appeared in was on April 6, 2022, and the last time he played at least 20 minutes in a game was on March 6, 2022.
Bringing him in to play major minutes probably wouldn’t be a great idea for Dallas, but he could provide them with solid depth. JaVale McGee hasn’t panned out as well as they had hoped, and Jason Kidd has begun to give Theo Pinson center minutes.
Once Maxi Kleber returns, they’ll have a big man rotation consisting of Kleber, Dwight Powell, Christian Wood, and McGee. Davis Bertans and Markieff Morris can play the four a bit, but they’re not really centers. Having Aldridge on the roster could give them another option to throw out there at the five.
Kyrie Irving Sounds Off on Luka Doncic
After Dallas’ recent loss to the Sacramento Kings, Luka Doncic took a contested three near the end of overtime when he could have passed the ball to Irving. However, after the game, Irving said that he doesn’t want Doncic to feel pressured to give him the ball in those situations.
“There were nine seconds left, we had to get a shot up anyway. Either way, it was going to be a great shot for him shooting it or me shooting it, just reading off of him,” Irving said via Grant Afseth of DallasBasketball.com. “No pressure in terms of giving me the ball in those situations, if he feels confident enough to take the shot. I feel like when he shoots or anyone shoots on our team it’s a great look as long they’re confident in it. So, I think it could’ve gone either way. If he would have passed it to me it probably could’ve been a different result, maybe not. But, the what ifs don’t matter.”
De’Aaron Fox Discusses Luka Doncic & Kyrie Irving
Meanwhile, Kings star De’Aaron Fox showed serious love to Doncic and Irving, praising them as individuals and as a duo.
“Those two are great players, I think they’ll both be Hall-of-Famers. For us, we want to continue to make it tough on them,” Fox said via the Kings YouTube Channel. “Obviously, if you only have one of those guys, as soon as they (give up the ball) then you try and deny them. But with it being two of those type of players, as a team you have to try and be on a string… They’re going to make tough shots, they’re going to make tough shots every game. But you just want to continue to make that type of stuff beat you… if they’re making tough shots and they beat you then you just dap them up and move on.”