Sports Time Radio

Through the years there are players that have been looked at as bad teammates and I have a feeling that Kyrie Irving is someone who’s looked at that way.

On February 3rd Irving asked the Brooklyn Nets to trade him after the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement on a contract extension. Well, earlier this week the Nets dealt Irving to the Dallas Mavericks. It will be Ircving’s fourth team in seven years.

The Mavericks acquired Irving and Markieff Morris from Brooklyn in exchange the nets received Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, a 2029 unprotected 1st round pick a 2027 2nd round pick and a 2029 2nd round pick.

It’s expected that the mavericks will expect Irving to fill the role that Jalen Brunson had last season. Brunson took some of the offensive load off of Luka Doncic, but Brunson signed with the New York Knicks this past off season, so Doncic has had to carry more of the offense for the Mavericks.

Irving is older than Brunson, Irving is 30 years old while Brunson is 26 years old. Irving however is far more proven than Brunson. Irving is an 8-time All-Star and has won an NBA championship when he was with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Now it appears as though the Nets didn’t quite get the haul that a lot of people thought they would when trading a player, the caliber of Irving, but they didn’t do too badly either. Dinwiddie is having a solid season as a ball handler on the second unit, plus he played very well the first time he was a member of the Nets. Finney-Smith may turn out to be the real steal in this trade. He is looked at as one of the best “3 and D” wings in the NBA. Teaming him up with the likes of Royce O’Neal, Nic Claxton and Ben Simmons and Brooklyn should be able to play top tier defense which would be something different in today’s NBA.

Another key to this deal could be that unprotected 2029 1st round pick. Doncic is only signed with the Mavericks through the 2027 season. If he was to take his services elsewhere it’s possible that draft pick could end up in the lottery.

The biggest question for the Mavericks in this deal is can Doncic and Irving mess on the court together. Irving is a quality ball handler and he’ll be able to give Doncic a break there, but will they be able to get the ball to each other when needed. Irving can also score and I’m not sure he gets the credit he deserves in that department. He is averaging 27.1 points per game in the 40 games he’s played this season. Doncic is a triple-double waiting to happen, but Irving’s scoring might help relieve Doncic from having to score 30 or more when posting those triple-doubles.

The Mavericks are on the road tonight against the Los Angeles Clippers and Irving is expected to play. Now it’s doubtful will see him and Doncic on the court together tonight as Doncic has missed the Mavericks last two games with a heel injury. It’s possible that will see Irving and Doncic play together in one of the Mavericks back-to-back games against the Sacramento Kings on February 10th and 11th.

The Mavericks are currently 29-26 and in 6th place in the Western conference. They trail the Western conference leading Denver Nuggets by 9 games, and they have a 1/2 game lead over the 7th place Golden State warriors and the 8th place New Orleans Pelicans.

While we’re on the NBA the Milwaukee Bucks currently have the longest winning streak at 8 games while the San Antonio Spurs have the longest losing streak at 9 games.

The NBA trade deadline is tomorrow, so it will be interesting to see if any other big-name players get traded. There are some rumors where I live in the Chicagoland area that the Chicago Bulls could trade either Demar DeRozan or Zack Lavine before tomorrow’s deadline. There was also some talk that the Nets might not be done dealing and that Keving Durant might be on the move. I believe that Brooklyn shot down those rumors yesterday, but you never know. I guess will find out who goes where tomorrow.

So, let me know what you think of the Irving to Dallas trade. Do you think that Brooklyn got enough in return for Irving? And do you see Irving and Doncic being able to play together?

Don’t forget to look me up on Twitter, I’m @Burketime.