Despite playing with All-Stars such as Kevin Durant, James Harden, and most recently Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving has not reached a conference finals since 2017, when he was with the Cleveland Cavaliers. But Kendrick Perkins, who was Irving’s teammate in Cleveland in 2015, expects a big season from the Dallas Mavericks guard.
“A motivated Kyrie Irving that’s ready to prove the world wrong with a skinny Luka [Doncic], I’m looking at Kyrie Irving to be an All-NBA caliber player this season,” Perkins said on the August 2 episode of “NBA Today.”
“A motivated Kyrie Irving that’s ready to prove the world wrong with a skinny Luka [Doncic], I’m looking at Kyrie Irving to be an All-NBA caliber player this season.”
Agree with @KendrickPerkins? 🤔
(via @ESPNNBA, “NBA Today”)
Pressure on Kyrie Irving To Deliver
Irving is embarking on perhaps the most important season of his NBA career. A failed experiment with the Brooklyn Nets resulted in a blockbuster trade that sent the star guard to the Mavericks in February. But after the trade, the Mavericks plummeted in the Western Conference standings and did not qualify for the play-in tournament.
Both the Nets and his ex-co-star Kevin Durant, who was traded to the Phoenix Suns days after Irving was traded to the Mavericks, made the playoffs in 2023. With a new $120 million deal, a retooled roster, and a full season to prepare, it’s time for Irving to deliver in the playoffs again.
There is also pressure from another standpoint based on an interesting fact. Irving has yet to reach an NBA Finals without his former Cavaliers teammate LeBron James, who has visited the Finals twice since splitting with the star guard and won the title with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020. He was also named Finals MVP of the series.
Kevin Durant Drops Bold Luka Doncic Take
The consensus around the NBA is that because Luka is not chiseled like LeBron or long and athletic like Kevin Durant that he is a slow player. But Durant says that is simply not true and Doncic uses that false narrative to his advantage on the basketball court. His deceptive speed can easily catch whoever is defending him off guard.
“He’s deceptively quick too, he’ll get around you fast, slip around you fast for a layup and then slow down, that’s how he’ll get a lot of fouls too,” Durant said on an episode of his podcast The ETCs.
“Because he’ll act like he doesn’t have any athleticism. And he can get around you and he got a big body so he is trying to trick people into thinking he can’t get around you. And he slows down, you chase him down and he’ll slow down, and get a layup and one so you gotta be on point with that dude.”
Luka at times seems psychic with the things that he can do on the basketball court. The passes that he throws, the reads he makes defensively, and the ability to create space for a more accurate shot are all things that at times seem unguardable.
“He plays at a nice pace that’s why I think he can make them shots that way. Like those crazy shots that he be making, the passes that he throws it feels like he is just walking on the track. You know how when rappers just like easily cruise on the track and it’s like damn this n**** is just talking? That’s how Doncic is. Like he’s just smooth out there, he’s seeing everything before it even happens, he takes every pass that he wants it is just a nice pace,” Durant added.
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Kyrie Irving’s Ex-Cavaliers Teammate Puts NBA on Notice