Analyst compares Kyrie Irving situation to another former Boston Celtics PG’s
Action Network’s Matt Moore made a great call on Twitter on February 6 when he noticed an uncanny similarity between Kyrie Irving joining the Mavericks and another former Boston Celtics point guard’s own when he was traded to Dallas.
Just as Irving is joining European superstar Luka Doncic to get him over the hump in a Mavs uniform, Rajon Rondo was seen as doing the same when he was traded to Dallas to join Dirk Nowitzki back in December of 2014.
Moore tweeted out a photo of Rondo with a clever caption to tie the two situations together:
Older mercurial point guard who won a title seven years ago is dealt to the Mavericks who hope he can be the difference for their title hopes around their European superstar. pic.twitter.com/pOQBitTQke
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) February 6, 2023
Nothing indicates the Mavericks will have different outcome with Kyrie Irving from Boston Celtics or Nets
Teaming up with LeBron James and Kevin Love was the only situation that ever brought Irving close to a championship. There are quite a few coincidences and realities that seem to point to Dallas going down in a blaze of glory by way of Irving’s gravity instead.
First, the coincidences. Besides the Rondo comparison, there’s also the eerily similar projection about how things will go in Dallas in Irving’s words ahead of joining the Boston Celtics. Essentially, the verbiage was the same for both his Celtics and Mavs introductions.
Now, more importantly, for the realities. With Dallas trading two valuable contributors in Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith to the Nets for Irving, the Mavericks are not a deep team. An injury to Irving or Doncic is damning enough to derail the whole operation. If there aren’t serious follow-up moves made, this won’t end well.
At least the Mavericks can opt out early if things don’t work out. Irving owning an expiring $36 million contract allows Mark Cuban and co. to reshuffle the deck in the offseason. The signs point to an ending in Dallas similar to the ending of Irving’s time in Boston and Brooklyn: ringless.