As sports fans, there are benchmark moments in the histories of our favorite teams. We remember exactly where we were when these moments happened, and they unmistakably change the trajectory of our franchises.
For Dallas Mavericks fans such as myself, Sunday afternoon will live forever as one of those moments. I was sitting at the table eating Panda Express and scrolling through Twitter (white rice/orange chicken/honey sesame chicken plate, for what it’s worth).
Then, a bomb on the timeline: Kyrie Irving is headed to Dallas. Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, and multiple draft picks go to Brooklyn in return. Later, news comes that Markieff Morris is joining Kyrie in making the move to the Lone Star State.
Oh, joy.
I’ve laughed over and over again watching Irving torpedo team after team, year after year, but now that missile is coming right at me. Right at the Mavs. It’s safe to say I’m not laughing anymore.
Before I go any further – there’s no denying that Luka Dončić needed more star-power to make a deep playoff run. On paper, Kyrie Irving provides that. He’s immensely talented and can single-handedly win games when Luka is off. The Mavs didn’t really have that before.
As a basketball move, it makes sense. I hate giving up Dinwiddie and DFS, but it makes sense.
However, with a guy like Kyrie Irving, you aren’t just trading for his talent. You’re trading for a metric ton of baggage. Years worth of dirty laundry with the threat of even more to come in the future.
It’s a substantial risk. Hopefully it pays off.
There seems to be some doubt about Irving’s fit with Luka, but I think it will be okay to be honest. Every time Kyrie hasn’t been the primary ball handler, he’s actually been quite effective.
He looked good as an off-ball guard in the (few) games he played in Brooklyn with Durant and Harden, and he had the best stretch of his career playing second-fiddle to LeBron in Cleveland. If that’s anything to go off, I see that situation working out.
What I don’t necessarily see working out is Kyrie’s approach – not just to basketball, but to life in general. I respect that he isn’t afraid to speak his mind, but the content coming out of that mind is just nonsense.
He’s one dumb comment or stupid social post away from being out for an extended period. That would completely tank the Mavs’ season.
What’s worse is that I don’t really trust him not to screw something up in a big way. Trust me: I hope I’m wrong. I would love nothing more than to see him come to Dallas, have a good several months, and set himself up for his next contract.
I just don’t see it happening. His track record is as sketchy as they come. I can’t believe that Mavs fans on the internet are trying to say otherwise, that all the other fanbases that know him are wrong, and that Dallas will be different.
“But it will work for us!” Take it away, Ian Cross:
Great show, by the way.
Let’s just call a spade a spade. We can’t just ignore everything else about Kyrie because he’s really good at basketball. Step one of being good at basketball is being on the court and playing basketball. He’s extremely prone to not being there at all.
When you’re trying to repeat a conference finals trip, you can’t have a crucial player missing games due to factors that have nothing to do with the game.
This trade makes me extremely nervous. I’ll be holding my breath that Kyrie doesn’t rock the boat. He’s on an expiring contract, so he should theoretically be on his best behavior. His good relationships with Jason Kidd and Nico Harrison should (hopefully) help as well.
But all things considered, I can’t see this ending well. I hope I’m wrong.
6/10… Sparks.
