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Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving has been a part of a lot of star-studded duos and trios during his time in the NBA, and now he has a new running mate. Irving will be teaming up with former Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis after the Mavericks traded Luka Doncic to the Lakers in exchange for the big man.
Irving and Davis came into the league in the early 2010s and now will finally get to see if they can win a championship together when Davis gets back on the floor after recovering from an abdominal injury. Irving said that this partnership has been in the works for a long time, according to ESPN's Tim Bontemps.
“We were discussing in 2018, just for everybody at home that's watching, because I know all of these words are going to be looked at,” Irving said, per Bontemps. “But yeah, in 2018, it was a dream for Kyrie, AD, [Kevin Durant] to be on one team and still keep [Jayson Tatum] and let him grow and then see how it goes.”
The Mavericks are gunning for the full trio, as they have shown interest in acquiring Durant from the Phoenix Suns. While Dallas likely doesn't have the assets to make any deal for Durant happen, the Doncic trade showed that truly anything is possible when the deadline rolls around.
Kyrie Irving must be consistent for Mavericks without Luka Doncic
Kyrie Irving is having a very good season for the Mavericks, scoring more than 24 points per game on efficient shooting splits. However, he has been a little bit inconsistent at times, with his scoring efficiency coming and going from game to game.
With Luka Doncic no longer on the team, Irving must start to find that game to game consistency on the offensive end. Anthony Davis is still a superstar and he is going to be productive on offense, but he does a lot of his work on the interior. After this trade, Irving is now the only true ball handler and shot creator for this Mavericks team, making his role much more important.
Irving is going to go from playing off the ball a lot with Doncic to having the ball in his hands all the time as the main guy in Dallas. If the Mavericks want to make a push deep into the playoffs and get back to the NBA Finals, Irving is going to have to be one of the best offensive players in the world.
Defensively, Dallas is going to be extremely tough to score the ball on especially in the playoffs when games slow down. A front line of Davis and either Daniel Gafford or Dereck Lively is going to patrol the paint, but it will struggle to space the floor offensively. As a result, Irving is going to have to create shots for himself and others consistently to make a run.
