“Magician with the basketball”: Danny Green reveals why Kyrie Irving has league's deepest skill set, emphasizing overlooked aspect of his game
NBA veteran Danny Green believes that Kyrie Irving is a special player than what many give him credit for. He said that while off-court issues have somehow overshadowed what the multiple-time All-Star guard has done on the court, there is no denying that he boasts one of the deepest skill sets the league has ever seen.
Three-time NBA champion Green shared this in a recent interview on the "Run Your Race" podcast, highlighting how Irving is very athletic, allowing him to do all the “wizardry” on the court.
The former North Carolina Tar Heel said:
“He is a magician with the basketball…What makes Kai so hard to guard is he is shockingly very athletic. People don’t understand that about him...His hang time, his speed, his stop on a dime.”
In 13 years so far in the league, Kyrie Irving has one NBA title under his belt, which came in 2016 while he was still playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers alongside LeBron James. He has earned eight All-Star selections and won an NBA All-Star Game MVP award in 2014. The Duke product also has been named to three All-NBA Teams.
After leaving Cleveland in 2017, he has had stops in Boston, Brooklyn and last season with Dallas, where he re-signed for three years this offseason.
But while he has established a solid NBA career since being selected first overall in the 2011 rookie draft, he has been involved in a number of off-court issues as well.
Among them was his refusal to receive vaccine during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing him to miss a considerable number of games while playing for the Nets. Another was last year when he shared on social media a link to the documentary Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America, which is deemed to espouse antisemitic views, earning him suspension for a number of games.
Kyrie Irving says re-signing with Dallas was an easy decision
NBA All-Star Kyrie Irving re-signed with the Dallas Mavericks this offseason for three years, worth $126 million. He said that doing so was not a hard decision for him as at the onset top priority for him was signing with the team.
The veteran guard joined Luka Doncic and the Mavericks midseason last year after being traded from Brooklyn. In the 20 games he played, he averaged 27 points, six assists, five rebounds and 1.3 steals. They, however, missed the playoff bus.
For the upcoming season, expectations are high that the Mavericks will make a deeper run now that Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving and the rest of the team have more time to prepare.