The Mavericks went all-in on the Kyrie Irving-Luka Doncic duo. But they may have repeated an error from four years ago.
Since the deadline deal that sent Irving to Dallas, the Mavericks are 7-9. They’re just 3-6 in the games where Doncic and Irving have taken the court together. With 10 games remaining, Dallas is in seventh place, but one game away from falling out of the play-in entirely.
Part of the reason Dallas dealt two players and three picks for Irving was to ease the disproportionate scoring load that fell on Doncic’s shoulders. The Mavs thought they could maximize their young star by pouncing when a controversial All-Star became available. Now, he’s having trouble staying on the court.
That was also the idea behind trading for Kristaps Porzingis in 2019. The Mavericks traded two first-round picks, plus 2017 lottery pick Dennis Smith Jr. to New York for the All-Star big man, even though he was out for the rest of the season.
Porzingis being out became a theme. Ultimately, he and Doncic only shared the court for 110 games in three years, before Dallas traded him to Washington last year. They were better with KP, going 67-43 when he played and 51-42 when he sat, but that’s simply a lot of missed games for a player with a max contract.
But a max contract is also what it will likely take to bring back Irving, who has all the ability in the world, except availability. Since signing a four-year deal in 2019, Irving has played in 156 of a possible 298 games (52.3 percent). That’s very close to Porzingis, who played 54.2 percent of his Dallas games.
The Mavericks need to make a difficult decision on Irving’s free agency this summer without much of a chance to see how he and Doncic look together. They’ve each had high-scoring nights, but often the highlights are of the two stars taking turns with moments of individual brilliance, not working together.
Plus, the bill for these trades eventually comes due. The Knicks got a young, cheap starting guard in Quentin Grimes with one of the Porzingis picks. If the Mavs miss the playoffs, they’ll get a lottery pick this year. (It’s top-10-protected.)
So far, Irving has been a model citizen in Dallas. Maxi Kleber said, “He’s a very, very great teammate,” while Marc Stein reported that Irving had “won admirers in the locker room.” Perhaps this gambit will work out. But Dallas should be worried about Irving in the training room, not just the locker room.
