We were all wrong about the Kyrie Irving to Dallas Mavericks trade (but with good reason)

Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison and ex-owner Mark Cuban will, and should, receive most of the credit for pushing to trade that, on paper, had a 0.000003% chance of succeeding.

The guy who really made the trade for Kyrie Irving happen is probably more Luka Doncic.

Today, all three can, and should, point to all of us and scream, in Luka’s Slovenian, “Kako sem ti zdaj všeč?!” Or, “Ne moreš me varovati!”

(That’s Slovenian for, “How do you like me now?” and “You can’t guard me!”)

The Mavericks lead the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals 2-0 in part because of that trade. Game 3 is Sunday night at the American Airlines Center.

Considering where the Mavs are today, you need Indiana Jones to see where they were not that long ago.

This all began back in early February of 2023, when the Mavs were two games over .500 and the Brooklyn Nets let it be known they were willing to trade their All-Star guard for a laser-hair removal Groupon and a dozen Hooters wings.

Kyrie’s relationship with the Nets had dropped deep into an over-flowing toilet and no plunger could save it.

According to people familiar with this potential trade, once Doncic found out that Kyrie was available he pushed to make this deal happen. He wanted real players.

If the Mavericks didn’t make this trade he would be none too pleased. An unhappy Luka is not something the Mavericks wanted to navigate.

On Feb. 6, 2023, the Mavs sent the Nets Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, a 2027 second round pick, a 2029 first round pick, a 2029 second round pick, and some other trade exceptions in exchange for Kyrie and Markieff Morris.

The immediate reaction was that Kyrie would be the end of Jason Kidd’s time as Mavericks coach because, as Kyrie later jokingly called himself, he’s “a chaos agent.”

Other than the Mavericks, no one thought this trade was a good idea. Even some of those whose check come from the Mavericks weren’t crazy about it. The overall reaction was, “Great talent; we all know how this ends.”

All of the evidence said this was a marriage between a team thrilled to dump a player to another desperate for talent. Any of us who trashed this trade were more than warranted in those feelings.

Looks like the internet says I wrote something that reads, “The Dallas Mavericks are so desperate to put an All-Star player next to Luka they went with the crazy hot one. Uncle Drew is coming to the Mavs. Will be interesting. Will be entertaining. And don’t come cryin’ when Kyrie Irving goes (Rajon) Rondo and this movie bombs.”

Whatever the reasons, Kyrie Irving’s time with his three previous franchises all ran aground. The common denominator in all of those situations was Kyrie Irving.

When he basically begged out of Cleveland and was traded by the Cavaliers, in August of 2017, it was because he wanted to be The Man. When LeBron James is your teammate, there is only one Man.

That’s not an uncommon NBA problem, and Kyrie’s desire to leave made sense.

Kyrie went to Boston, and while the team did well enough, according to reports that surfaced later, he was uneasy about the city itself and its long history of racial problems.

So he left Boston after two seasons to sign with his “hometown-ish” Brooklyn Nets.

Between his stance on the COVID policies, and his controversial/ignorant support of the documentary “New World Order,” a conspiracy-theory film that supports anti-semitism, he was a “chaos agent” in Brooklyn.

By all accounts, whatever he was in Cleveland, Boston and Brooklyn he has not been with the Mavericks. He’s been a good teammate and a generally nice guy. Not perfect, but good.

Of course, it really helps a relationship when a team hands you a three-year, $126 million contract, as the Mavs gave Irving last summer during free agency. He’s 32, has a family, and there is likely some maturity at play here that comes with aging and being around long enough to know what matters.

It can happen; sometimes what a guy was isn’t what he becomes. Doesn’t happen often. The most famous is case is the famous headcase that was Rasheed Wallace.

From 1995 to 2003, Wallace was the uber-talented child who couldn’t stop creating problems for himself and his team. It was not until he was traded to the Detroit Pistons in 2003, and turned 30, when he finally “got it.” He became a key member of Detroit’s title team.

In February of 2023, the Mavericks were a desperate team when they traded for Irving.

Nearly one year later to the day, they were still a tad desperate when they traded for P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford.

They are not up 2-0 in the West Finals without those “desperate” moves.

Credit where credit is due.

Credit to Mark Cuban. Credit to Nico Harrison. Credit to Luka Doncic. Credit to Kyrie Irving.

To all of us who were so skeptical of the Kyrie trade, we had our reasons. We were also wrong.