The Dallas Mavericks Have Pulled The Trigger And Are Officially Kyrie Irving's New Team

You know the drill…

SHAMS BOMB!!

And there it is. After a few days of speculation, we officially have an answer to who the hell would be willing to trade for Kyrie Irving. The Mavs were one of the early listed destinations when the news first broke, Luka I imagine gave his blessing, and Mark Cuban did what his fanbase had been screaming for and brought in some help.

Now that we know the price, remember this report from before all this Kyrie shit broke?

As it turns out, that's exactly what they did. Spencer Dinwiddie's expiring and some picks to sweeten the deal, I'm curious if this was truly the best possible return, or if the Nets were hellbent on not giving Kyrie what he wants and sending him to the Lakers. The Nets have some experience with Dinwiddie, DFS is a pretty good starting caliber stretch four, and the pick is in 2029, and really who even knows if we'll all even still be alive in 2029. 

Here's what I want to know though. Are the Mavs prepared to offer him a 4 year deal this summer? Are they hoping that if they bring in Kyrie and they win that maybe he'll be open to a shorter deal? Let me ask you this, does that sound at all like something Kyrie would ever do? If another team he wants to go to decides to offer him that 4 year max this summer and the Mavs don't, you think Kyrie is sticking around? No chance.

From a basketball standpoint, it's a clear upgrade in terms of an additional ballhandler next to Luka. Nobody has ever debated Kyrie's talent as a player when he's on the floor, the issue is all the bullshit that comes with it tends to not be worth it. Franchise after franchise has tried to convince themselves it would be different on THEIR team, and it never is. So while I can understand why Mavs fans may be excited, history suggests this is only going to cause your franchise more turmoil. The thing is, they have to do everything they can to keep Luka happy and make sure he himself doesn't demand a trade one day. Banking that Kyrie Irving of all people is the one to do that is a gigantic gamble considering everything that has happened in each of his previous stops.

What this does is give the Mavs an option to hopefully lighten Luka's offensive load and usage, and really that's all that matters once the playoffs roll around. How many times have we seen Luka have 50 and no other Mav have more than 10 points. Kyrie "in theory" helps solve that problem.

For a Mavs team that is holding on for dear life to a top 6 seed (up 0.5 games), I guess you have to be willing to do everything you can to not fall into the Play In while also blocking some of your West competitors from maybe trading for Kyrie. I will say, this does make the race out West more interesting, and any time the Lakers somehow lose will always make me happy so I say let's get nuts. I have no idea how Kyrie/Luka will work since we've never really seen Luka play next to someone with Kyrie's talent, and you can technically play him off ball, so maybe on the court it works.

Off the court? It's still Kyrie. The Mavs are just the latest team who are willing to try and talk themselves into the drama being worth it. They're not the first, and once things inevitably turn into a disaster there, they won't be the last.

Luka and Kyrie. What a insane season 2023 is shaping up to be.