What’s Next for Kyrie Irving?

Keeping Kyrie Irving

When healthy and on the court, Kyrie Irving has been one of the best point guards over the past decade. From winning a ring in Cleveland to multiple all-star appearances, Irving’s resume speaks for itself. However, despite Irving’s successes, fans in Cleveland, Boston and Brooklyn all have negative views of their former star point guard.

For Dallas, the decision to keep Kyrie will center around trying to work on a long term extension for superstar Luka Doncic. Since being drafted in 2018, Doncic has emerged as on the games premier players and certainly one that Dallas will do everything to keep.

This season, things appeared to be moving in the right direction and the trade for Irving appeared to signal the team entering a window of serious NBA championship aspirations. While it didn’t work out this year, building a team around Kyrie and Luka will give the Mavericks one of the best backcourt duos in the NBA.

Losing Kyrie Irving

The biggest obstacle facing the Mavericks in their pursuit for Kyrie will be if Kyrie wants to stay in Dallas. Over the winter, it was painfully obvious that Kyrie had his eyes set on Los Angeles and a potential reunion for former Cavaliers teammate Lebron James. With LA still needing a point guard, it’s easy to see the team connected to Irving.

Meanwhile, Dallas will have to determine if a team led by both Kyrie and Luka can stay healthy enough to compete for a championship. Dating back to his time at Duke, Irving has hardly been a picture of clean health, missing a decent amount of time in most of the seasons he played. Meanwhile, Doncic has had his fair share of injuries as well and has missed around 15 to 20 games each season.

This year, the biggest obstacle for the two stars was a mix of time missed and trying to get comfortable playing with one another. With both players missing extended periods of time, can the Mavericks build a roster around the two that can compete?

Finally, while the two stars are both offensive threats, neither is known for their defensive abilities. If Dallas keeps both, they will have to fill out the rest of the roster with strong defensive players to help keep them competitive in games.

Regardless of the direction Dallas chooses to go, questions will swirl over their off-season. With the potential addition or subtraction of Kyrie, Dallas could be on the first step leading to an extension or the loss of Luka Doncic.