Colin Cowherd rationalizes why Mark Cuban signed Kyrie Irving: "Michael Jordan had his, Bird had his... And that’s the history of the league"
The Dallas Mavericks acquiring Kyrie Irving from the Brooklyn Nets has created the biggest buzz heading into the NBA’s trade deadline. Mark Cuban’s retooled backcourt will now feature one of the league’s best shotmakers and MVP candidate Luka Doncic.
Most analysts have been questioning the Mavericks’ capacity to make a deep run in the playoffs considering their over-reliance on Doncic. Trading Kristaps Porzingis at last year’s trade deadline for Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans has done little to solve the problem.
Kyrie Irving is unquestionably an elite talent but he’s also played just 143 games in roughly 3 ½ seasons with the Nets for different reasons.
Here’s Colin Cowherd on why Mark Cuban signed off on the rather risky deal:
(6:00 mark)
"With Luka, I think they’ll wear each other out eventually. But Luka, you gotta give him a second star. LeBron’s got his second star, Durant had his second star and Kobe was always better when he had a second star.
“Michael Jordan had his, Bird had his and Magic had his, and that’s the history of the league. … Dirk didn’t get his and I think Mark Cuban didn't want to go through that again with his top international star.”
Over the last 30 years, the teams who won the NBA championship were composed mostly of at least two bona fide stars. One of the few exceptions was in 2011 when Dirk Nowitzki carried the Dallas Mavericks past the Miami Heat, who had prime LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
Perhaps Mark Cuban probably thought that he couldn’t do the same disservice to Luka Doncic, which is why he aggressively went after Irving. The Slovenian superstar has been doing a Herculean job of leading the Dallas Mavericks this season.
“Luka Legend” leads the team in points, rebounds, assists, steals and minutes played. The Mavericks are 0-7 when Doncic is unavailable.
The NBA’s top usage players include Giannis Antetokounmpo, Doncic, Joel Embiid, Ja Morant and LeBron James. Only the Dallas Mavericks superstar doesn’t have a true sidekick by his side to help carry the load.
Antetokounmpo has Jrue Holiday, Embiid has James Harden and "King James" has both Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook. Kyrie Irving could be the Mavericks’ desperate attempt to give some sort of help to Doncic.
NBA executives would have preferred Jalen Brunson instead of Kyrie Irving as Luka Doncic’s co-superstar
Jalen Brunson left Dallas because the Mavericks reportedly didn't want to give him a four-year $56 million deal. Dorian Finney-Smith signed the same amount before last year’s trade deadline.
When the New York Knicks aggressively went after Brunson and offered him $104 million for four years, the Mavericks could only shake their heads. A few months later, they let go of Finney-Smith, Spencer Dinwiddie and draft capital for "Uncle Drew."
Dallas isn’t rumored to be against a four-year max deal for Kyrie Irving. GM Nico Harrison is looking at a two-year $80 million extension.
Here’s Colin Cowherd on why the Mavericks mismanaged the Brunson deal:
(7:55)
“I think a lot of them would take Jalen Brunson and Dallas moved him. Kyrie’s a better player but Kyrie gets hurt a lot, he’s older, the contract, he’s difficult, prickly. I wouldn’t even say unconventional. He’s beyond unconventional, he’s erratic."
After losing Brunson, Dinwiddie and Finney-Smith, Kyrie Irving could only be a three-month rental if the Mavericks don’t even make the playoffs.