Mark Cuban shares why Irving and Luka Doncic worked so well this season: “We were able to put it together”

A one-man show in Dallas again?

Many fans asked that question seeing Luka Doncic running the show for the Dallas Mavericks, similar to what his fellow European counterpart, Dirk Nowitzki , faced most of his NBA career.

Doncic began putting up incredible numbers right from the start of his NBA career. He won the Rookie of the Year award, and in the following season, he took Dallas to the playoffs for the first time since the franchise's title-winning season in 2011. However, the Slovenian needed a partner to reduce the workload, and the Mavs decided to bring on Kyrie Irving from the Brooklyn Nets at the trade deadline.

Building the chemistry

Having played together during the remainder of the 2022–23 season, the duo couldn't adjust on the fly, as Dallas missed the postseason. However, Mavericks executive Mark Cuban said that he and the coaching staff had faith in the duo, and they prepared to make them a formidable pair for the 2023-24 season.

"It was like, okay, let's just take the summer, and they did," Cuban said of Irving and Doncic creating chemistry. "Going into [training] camp, they learned how to play together. [Dallas head coach] J[ason] Kidd is great at dealing with guys with that level of talent, and we were able to put it together."

When they suited up together in the 2022–23 season, Kyrie and Luka mustered a mere 5-11 record, raising concerns about their ability to mesh on the court. Dallas was beginning to click otherwise, though. The team outscored their opponents by nine points across those 16 games, with 14 of them coming down to the wire. This was something to build upon heading into their first full season together in 2023-24.

Formidable duo

After missing the playoffs in 2023, many labeled the Doncic-Irving experiment a failure and one of Cuban's many mistakes.

"Some of the deals I've done that I thought were great deals turned out awful and vice versa," Cuban added." " With Kyrie, he came in and Luka was hurt, and we went 3-in-1 when Luka was hurt. Then they tried to gel, and they deferred to each other too much, and our season was a lost season."

Irving re-signed with the Mavs last summer. Just when it looked like everyone had written them off, they were suddenly being pegged as possibly the best backcourt ever while leading Dallas to the NBA Finals last spring.

Both superstars kept delivering striking performances night in and night out as Dallas slowly made their way through the Western Conference. In Game 2 of the conference finals against the Minnesota Timberwolves , Luka got the switch on Rudy Gobert for that final shot, and he wasn't going to miss. Sure enough, he drained an iconic game-winner, reminding everyone why he's already one of the greatest playoff performers ever.

Then there was Game 3, where both Doncic and Irving went off, each dropping 33 points in a 116-107 win. That was another reminder of how dangerous this duo can be when clicking.

But as good as they've been, both still have some work to do to be mentioned alongside the all-time great pairings. The most successful backcourts have championship DNA and countless postseason memories etched into basketball history. The Mavericks duo got close but lost in the 2024 NBA Finals to the Boston Celtics in five games.

With the 2024 season on the horizon, all signs point to Dallas being even better than they were a season ago.

Related: Mark Cuban recalls why losing to the Heat in 2006 was so brutal for him: "It wasn't a good series for us when it comes to officiating"