"I want him to stay"- Mark Cuban does not want to repeat same mistake as he plans on re-signing Kyrie Irving to support Luka Doncic
Despite everything seemingly going south for the Dallas Mavericks of late, owner Mark Cuban wants Kyrie Irving to stay in Texas.
While the duo of Luka Doncic and Irving seemed like a force to be reckoned with when they were paired up, the Mavs have found themselves on a downward spiral in the second half of the season. Despite the apparent disaster, Cuban still sees Kyrie suiting up for the Mavericks in the future.
"I want him to stay," Cuban was quoted as saying by ESPN's Tim MacMahon.
Mark Cuban on Kyrie Irving: “I want him to stay.” Asked if he’s a max player, Cuban says, “I’m not going to negotiate with you.”
Cuban wants to re-sign Kyrie Irving primarily to ensure Doncic has another star player by his side.
Why was the arrival of Kyrie Irving a failure?
Ever since Kyrie Irving was traded to the Dallas Mavericks, fans were expecting to see a lethal team that could take over the Western Conference. However, that didn't turn out to be the case. While both Luka Doncic and Irving were still putting up dominant performances, the team themselves couldn't get the job done.
Mavs fans blamed coach Jason Kidd for the team's failures, however, Mark Cuban defended the NBA legend. Cuban said it wasn't Kidd's fault that Dallas came up short after the trade deadline.
The billionaire instead pointed to the sudden evolution of the way basketball was played in the league. According to him, there was a sudden change in the rules, which in turn changed the pace of the game.
“I don’t think it’s J-Kidd’s problem that we didn’t have an identity,” he said. “The game changed in ways we didn’t expect it to change, so I blew it. It was on me personally because the game changed in terms of the take fouls and the speed of the game, and where you need to be defensively. We just didn’t make the right changes that we needed to.”
The Dallas Mavericks have been knocked out of playoff contention. The best thing they can do now is make adjustments during the offseason. If Dallas ends up re-signing Kyrie Irving, it'll need to find a way to help him develop his chemistry alongside Doncic.