The Dallas Mavericks, despite all the doubt surrounding them entering the 2023-24 season, have been off to a terrific start, winning six of their first seven games. This is thanks in large part to the incredible play of Luka Doncic, who, to this point, is averaging 31.6 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 8.9 assists per game on 64 percent true shooting. Lost in the shuffle has been the uneven play of Kyrie Irving, who hasn't gotten going quite yet this season.

On Monday night, in the Mavs' 117-102 win over the Orlando Magic, Irving, again, did not have his best shooting night. Coming off a 6-14 game against the Charlotte Hornets last night, Irving proceeded to shoot 8-20 from the field for 21 points against the Magic. This isn't poor per se, but by Irving's lofty standards, this level of inefficiency is quite uncharacteristic.

For reference, Kyrie Irving is shooting 43.3 percent from the field and 24.1 percent from beyond the arc, well below his career averages. He has shot over 50 percent in a single game just once this season in five outings. Nevertheless, Irving doesn't feel sorry for himself. In fact, the 31-year old point guard is cherishing the fact that the Mavs are playing winning basketball.

“It’s natural for me to say I’m frustrated with my own jump shot and focus on things I’m not necessarily doing well percentage wise or stats wise. That’s the easy thing, I feel like that’s kinda a cop out. The focus is really on our team wins and team camaraderie,” Irving told reporters in his postgame presser, per Landon Thomas of Mavs Fan For Life.

The Mavs have had a pillow-soft schedule thus far; while it's important for the team to secure these wins given how much they struggled against below .500 teams last season, they will need Kyrie Irving to step up when the schedule becomes tougher.

That leap in schedule difficulty should come soon, beginning with a matchup against the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night. The Mavs will be facing the Los Angeles Clippers (twice), Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers, Sacramento Kings and the New Orleans Pelicans (twice), not to mention a rapidly improving Houston Rockets team (whom they will also face twice). Luka Doncic will need his co-star to be on point for the Mavs to come out of that stretch mostly unscathed.