How much better are the Dallas Mavericks with Kyrie Irving?
We are four days away from the NBA trade deadline and the first big domino has fell. After requesting a trade less than 48 hours ago, Kyrie Irving is now a Dallas Maverick. At first thought, one would think this is a homerun for the Dallas Mavericks with a backcourt of Luka and Kyrie. Once you dive a little deeper into the numbers and see what Dallas lost, it’s much closer to being somewhat of a single than a homer.
Undeniably, this takes the Dallas Mavericks offense to another level. It allows Luka to not have to shoulder the entire offense for majority of the game. Luka ranks 2nd in usage rate this season (38.3%) so the addition of Kyrie Irving has to lift a big burden off of his shoulders. While the Dallas Mavericks do get better offensively, they still have glaring holes on the defensive side as well as in the paint.
Dallas ranks 24th in defensive rating and this is with the services of one of their better defenders in Dorian Finney Smith. While Kyrie has been showing better effort defensively over the past few months, he is still a below average defender. He ranks in the bottom half of defensive rating amongst guards which puts them at a disadvantage on that end of the court with Luka also ranking in the bottom half.
Replacing Spencer Dinwiddie can be done rather easily (Sorry, Spencer) with more Tim Hardaway Jr and Josh Green minutes. The big loss comes with replacing Dorian Finney Smith on the defensive end. With Smith on the floor, the Mavericks defensive rating is 114.7 which is average in the NBA. Without Smith on the floor it drops to 120.8 which is a cause for concern moving forward with Kyrie Irving in the lineup.
While the questions surrounding the deal for Kyrie Irving are almost all centered around the defensive end, one thing we do not have to question is the offensive side of the ball. The Mavericks rank 8th in offensive efficiency and adding Kyrie to the lineup will only enhance that rating. The Mavericks rank 1st in three point rate, attempting almost half (48.8%) of their overall shots from behind the arc. Kyrie will flourish in this offense with his effectiveness from three.
Kyrie is attempting the most threes in his career this season and is hitting at a 37% clip. Defenses not being able to key in on Luka is only going to help this backcourt. It also helps that Jason Kidd can get away with resting Luka a little more while not having to worry where the offense will come from. The Mavericks offensive rating drops from 117.6 to 110.6 this season without Luka on the floor. With Kyrie in the mix, that should not be the case moving forward.
Currently the Mavericks are two games above .500 and are the 6th seed in the West. They are 2.5 games back from being the three seed but 2 games away from being the 12th seed. Luka is currently dealing with a heel contusion and will likely be out a few games. So we will have to wait to watch the new duo on the floor together. The big question that needs to be asked in order to fully grade this trade is will Kyrie resign in the summer.
Without knowing that, we cannot fully say if this was a good move by the Dallas Mavericks. Does it help them for the time being? Yes. Did they become favorites to win the West and the NBA title? No. They still need some interior help and defenders in the backcourt. They rank 30th in rebounding and points in the paint, which getting Kyrie does not help at all. It will be interesting to see what transpires out of this deal on and off the floor. If we know one thing about Kyrie Irving, it is that you never truly know what to expect, not even when he tells you.
Kyrie Irving is expected to arrive for a physical on Monday in Dallas and travel to make his Mavericks debut vs. the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday (10 PM ET, ESPN), source tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 5, 2023
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