Kidd talks Irving, Doncic
The Mavericks are headed to the home of the Clippers tonight, where we could see Kyrie Irving make his debut and team up with Luka Doncic.
Kyrie Irving is officially a Dallas Maverick and he could make his debut tonight against the Los Angeles Clippers. That would be exciting indeed as it looks like Luka Doncic may be back tonight as well after suffering from a heel contusion against the Pelicans last week.
Irving’s debut comes highly anticipated, as the Mavs have been in desperate need of another weapon to put alongside Doncic, who’s been carrying the team on his own. They had Jalen Brunson for a while, which was great for Doncic and the Mavs, but since then, no one has been able to step up like he did.
Kidd believes Irving is the missing piece
Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd seems to believe that Kyrie Irving will be just that - the missing piece that will help pull the Mavs out of their slump and give Doncic the help he needs.
“When you look at some of the guys Ky has played with here, LeBron (James) is one that people will compare with Luka, being able to handle the ball, being able to set up screens,” said Kidd. “He’s played with the best players in the world and he’s had success doing that.”
“So just being able to give Luka an opportunity to come down the court without having to dribble or run every play. This gives us the opportunity to do different things.”
Some critics are worried about the potential clashing of two “alpha males” on the court, but Kidd isn’t concerned about that. He thinks Irving will do just as Brunson did, and then some.
“We look back at when we had JB, being able to have a play-maker like that,’’ said Kidd. “When you look at Ky - nothing against JB - but Ky is at a different level, so this gives us another weapon.”
When Doncic played together with Brunson, he was not a ball-hog. He shared with Brunson...just as Kyrie Irving shared with LeBron James when they played together.
“Someone’s going to be free, someone’s going to have the advantage,” said Kidd. “We play a lot of advantage basketball just with Luka. So now to get the opportunity with Ky, that just gives us another weapon.”
The Mavericks play the Clippers tonight in Los Angeles at Crypto.com Arena at 10 p.m. ET.