The Dallas Mavericks, with Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving leading the way, are a really good team. However, three-time NBA champion and former Coach of the Year Byron Scott doesn't think the Mavs will be a force in the West.

Maybe the Mavs can become playoff contenders with all the talent they have, but Scott admitted that he doesn't see them actually becoming contenders. The ex-Los Angeles Lakers coach still has reservations about the effectiveness of the Doncic-Irving duo, adding that it will be hard for Jason Kidd to make it work.

Not to mention that the Mavs have a tough road in the West considering the number of powerhouse squads that they need to face, such as the reigning NBA champions Denver Nuggets, as well as the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies, Los Angeles Clippers, Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns.

“I think that Dallas has a really good team but I still think that it’s going to be hard for J-Kidd to use Kyrie and Luka together. Both guys are very dominant with the ball, so I think that it's really going to be hard for him to figure out how to play those guys together as a team, but they got some talent, you know?” Scott said on Scoop B Selects with host Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson.

“Dallas is going to be a good team this year but don't think that they'll be a force in the West, but it's just too many great teams over there but Kyrie Irving is one the most talented players that I've ever seen.”

True enough, it's hard to blame Byron Scott for having such brutal assessment of the Mavs. They have talent for sure, but after their disastrous run in the second half of the 2022-23 season(after  the trade for Irving) that saw them miss out on the postseason, it's hard to have some confidence about their chances in the upcoming campaign.

Clearly, the Mavs believe that Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic will be able to thrive together. And they have the right to believe that considering that Kyrie himself has played with the likes of  LeBron James and Kevin Durant. Sure enough, it shouldn't be difficult for him to build chemistry with Doncic, especially after a full offseason together.

However, the problem is Dallas has yet to really prove that Doncic and Irving can be successful together, and until they do so, there will be plenty of doubts on the team.

Can Luka Doncic-Kyrie Irving duo really work?

For what it's worth, Byron Scott isn't the first one to express doubts about the Luka Doncic-Kyrie Irving pairing. In fact, his comments are even gentler compared to the previous takes about the team and the duo.

Recently, NBA legend Charles Barkley shared his belief that the two will be able to bring the Mavs to a higher level. Dallas handed Irving a three-year, $126 million extension this offseason. But for Chuck, it was a mistake that he couldn't believe.

“I was surprised when they gave him that much money. But I don't think the Luka-Kyrie thing is gonna work,” Barkley said on Bill Simmons' podcast. Simmons, for his part, agreed and noted that he's not a fan of the partnership.

Of course a lot of fans and experts have expressed the same concerns about the pairing in the past. After Dallas failed to move to the 2023 postseason, some even shared their belief that the qualities of both Doncic and Irving are a recipe for disaster, not a championship team.

“You get into a relationship with Kyrie at your own risk,” a league source told Steve Bulpett of Heavy. “I don’t see how him and Luka work, never did. I guess Dallas felt it was worth a shot, but even now it’s hard to see them getting the right pieces to put around them. I’m not sure you can. You’ve got two ball-dominant guys who neither one really knows how to play without the ball, and neither one knows how to defend. It’s not a winning situation.

“If you want to win championships, you have to have two-way players. They don’t have two-way players. Neither one of those two guys want to sully themselves with the arduous task of playing defense on a night in-night out basis. So what happens is they don’t, and sooner or later the other dudes say the hell with this.”

It remains to be seen what will happen to the Mavs, but hopefully, they use all the criticisms as fuel to prove the doubters wrong.