Dallas celebrates the Irving coup
A superstar deal that raises questions
2/7/2023 2:53 p.m
Kyrie Irving’s move to the Dallas Mavericks is perfect. The polarizing superstar should become a “game changer”, a difference player who makes the big coup possible. All the background noise, for which the 30-year-old virtuoso also stands, should be a thing of the past.
Jason Kidd went straight into attack mode when the blockbuster deal was sealed. “Having him allows us to be a championship contender,” said the Dallas Mavericks coach, delighted with the much-discussed signing of the at times brilliant superstar Kyrie Irving, who has caused a sensation this season with 27 points, five rebounds and assists on average ensures: “Ky is a winner. He knows what it means to be a champion.”
Irving is said to be a “game changer” for Dallas, a difference player who makes the big coup possible. In 2011, along with icon Dirk Nowitzki, Kidd was one of the main guarantors for the Texans’ only NBA championship to date. In the highly talented but also polarizing top star, who comes to Dallas from the Brooklyn Nets and is scheduled to make his debut on Thursday night, Kidd sees the possibly decisive piece of the mosaic on the way to the second title alongside exceptional talent Luka Doncic.
Irving splits the NBA
All the background noise, for which the 30-year-old basketball virtuoso also stands, should be a thing of the past. In the Big Apple, Irving made headlines, especially away from the courts – from crude conspiracy theories to his refusal to vaccinate and the anti-Semitism scandal. Accordingly, the “New York Times” wrote of three and a half “scandal-ridden years in which the Nets were far from able to fulfill their ambitions of seriously playing for the championship”.
Even New York Mayor Eric Adams couldn’t resist a dig at farewell. “No matter how much talent you have, the more important thing is the ability to get on well with your colleagues,” Adams said in a TV interview. And Charles Barkley, ex-star and one of the scene’s observers, said Irving had to spot mistakes when looking in the mirror. “If everyone keeps saying bad things about me, maybe that’s a little to blame,” Barkley said.
“He wants to be coached, he wants to win”
Kidd, who as part of the deal will have to do without Spencer Dinwiddie, the defensive Dorian Finney-Smith, one first-round and two second-round draft picks, is not impressed. “It’s easy to look at all the talk about the negative,” said the 49-year-old after the 124-111 win at Utah Jazz, which took a back seat: “He wants to be coached, he wants to win and he’s ready to get started.” As of Tuesday, Irving and Markieff Morris, who also became part of the trade, are said to be part of the Mavs team, who will join the Los Angeles Clippers a day later. Probably already with Irving, but still without the ailing Luka Doncic.
The Slovenian and Melbourne-born Irving form the Mavs’ new, sportingly promising star duo. Both are among the starters of the Allstar game on February 19, which shows the offensive power that Kidd has going forward. No other league duo has a higher point average than Doncic and Irving at 60.5, according to the Dallas Morning News. However, the guards first have to prove that they inspire each other and don’t slow them down. And they need helpers like the German national player Maximilian Kleber, who can lend a hand on the defensive. The team is considered extremely weak defensively. Kleber is looking forward to his comeback after thigh surgery. In a team with a completely new static.