I’ll just start with the question asked in the title: Name a worse mashup of pairings than Luka Donik and Kyrie Irving. For starters, Dennis Rodman and Jean-Claude Van Damme double team Come to mind. Maybe, but at least they were that bad, so it’s funny. Bleach and vinegar create potentially lethal chlorine gas. Most NBA teams at the deadline decided they would rather drink bleach at the deadline than trade for Irving’s expiring contract, but Donkic’s breathtaking prowess at his size is more lemon than vinegar.
Red Bull and Vodka? Eureka! The NBA’s Drinking Red Bull and Long Island Combo Has Been Equally Internally Damaging dallas mavericks, On the face of it, they’re both intended to be harbingers of a fun time. Individually, the Dallas dual stars are heady talents who can provide an adrenaline rush on the floor. Together, however, the chemical mixture has been surprisingly toxic and Dallas has discovered the firsthand effects of overdoing it. Things can go bad quickly, which has been the story of the Dallas season.
Mark Cuban and the Mavs have woken up with a pounding headache and another rung in the loss column since closing a deal on a trade for Irving on February 6th. Infiltrate the top four seeds.
Looks…best
Instead, the Kyrie-Luka Fellowship has accumulated a 7-19 record, fifth worst in the NBA, and has been staggering in the offseason and vomiting in his shoes. No one expected Irving to be a steady force, but Abyss Dallas is hard at work underscoring just how much of an albatross Irving has been. Things have gotten so bad, that with Doncic seeing through the haze and messaging through the media, he may make Irving’s predecessor Jalen Brunson regret it in the morning.
When asked how much he misses Brunson after Dallas’ latest loss to the Atlanta Hawks, Donkic was practically blushing at his former point guard.
“Many,” she confessed. “I mean amazing guy, amazing player, definitely.”
This may not go down well with Irving, whose strong desire to feel appreciated by everyone around him can be triggered by the slightest slip-up. Mavericks, of course The fall isn’t all on Irving. However, the Dallas pieces only enhanced Donkic’s low-grade defensive ability, and His constant stomping in front of the officials, further knocked him down a peg in the NBA hierarchy. In other words, Irving was the component This chemical reaction is taking place. In an ironic turn of events, the Knicks organization that Kevin Durant and Irving parted ways is thriving.
Irving’s individual ability is awe-inspiring, but basketball relies heavily on coordination. Brunson is never a consummate point guard as Irving was. In late game situations, the two stars of the Mavs may even be in different uniforms. no team useses as often as isolation The Mavericks have acquired Irving. Signs of their uneasy fit were on display in their second game together on the floor – when they played drunk. hot potato with the Leathers on the last possession of regulation of a home game where they fell behind by three against Minnesota and never had a shot.
In the aforementioned loss to the Hawks, a mental mistake by Irving’s defense helped send Trey Young to the line for a free throw that put the Mavericks up two. When Doncic’s game-tying, catch-and-shoot triple-rimmed his fate was sealed Out on last possession.
So what now?
In a vacuum, it is understandable why Doncic would miss Brunson. His escape to New York should never have happened. All the Mavs had to do was sign a four-year, $55 million extension before the 2021-22 season. This could ultimately prove to be as much of a deterrent to their title aspirations as Steve Nash’s mismanagement of free agency as Cuba.
Doncic is a major star in this league, but Irving hasn’t matched him up on the floor as well as he did with Durant. Durant is a hyper-efficient scoring genie who can reveal buckets with a few pointless movements. Irving and Dončić are both ball-stopping offensive constellations Would love to be a one-man show. They were doomed to fail and the coaching of Jason Kidd’s deer in the headlights didn’t help. Despite still being within striking distance of a play-in, rumors persisted this week that both Doncic and Irving would be shut down for the remainder of the regular season so Dallas could retain their top-10 protected 2023 pick instead.
Dallas’ disastrous end to the season means teams will be even more uncertain about pursuing Irving in free agency. If he can’t even affect a win, it doesn’t mean anything Breathing in its noxious fumes for the next three years. Mavericks have invested too much in Irving to leave and have indicated their preference to re-sign Irving Chris Haynes,
After all, De’Auron Fox and Damontis Sabonis show no signs of developing into a Western Conference contender after joining at the February 2022 trade deadline. However, a new coach, a training camp, And the opportunity to integrate without the grind of the regular season getting in the way has made a huge difference. Can Dallas do it? Perhaps? But it will require a coach willing to use the Kiri-Luka pick-and-roll more often, surround him with stretchy defenders and get the cornerstone of his franchise to actually defend with some effort. When you consider everything that would have to be drastically changed, the possibility Duplicating Sabonis and Fox’s transformation with the Sacramento Kings seems like a distant pipe dream. Dallas is trapped in a nightmare of his own making.
Follow DJ Danson on Twitter: @cerebralsportex