Mark Cuban spoke on Shannon Sharpe's ' Club Shay Shay' podcast about his initial thoughts on Mavericks star Kyrie Irving . Cuban admitted that prior to meeting Kyrie, he thought Irving was a team killer due to his stints with the Cavaliers and the Celtics. But after talking to him, he understood who he was, and why things turned out the way they did.
“Honestly, before I did the work, I thought he was a team killer. Because I never talked to him, there was no point or reason to talk to people about him… But, when the opportunity to trade for him came, ‘Okay, let's do the work’."
"Nico did the work, J Kidd knew him, Nico knew him for years… Everybody loved him. Then you looked at the organizations he was in, and (that didn’t help the situation. I knew all these owners, I knew the circumstances. It wasn’t a hard decision.”
Sharpe also asked Cuban why he chose to take a chance on Irving, considering his history with previous franchises like the Cavaliers, Celtics, and even the Nets. Cuban said that he spoke with Irving and got to know what happened, and noted that it was a combination of maturity and circumstances not going his way.
“You talk to them, and you talk to people around them. You watch what happens, how their actions are. You watch Kyrie, before he came to the Mavs, after the game… Kyrie is one of those guys that’s going to hug you like he’s known you for 20 years and you guys are first cousins."
"That says something; when guys are getting that close to each other. When you talk to players, they love him. Nobody had a bad word to say about Kyrie, that ever stepped on the court. To me, that was all we needed to know. From there, what went wrong in Boston, what went wrong in Brooklyn?"
"A lot of that is maturity, but a lot of it was circumstances too. How often is COVID going to hit and lead to those circumstances? What we learned was that you let Kai be Kai. I love talking to the guy…"
"Kai is the dude sitting there wanting to talk about world peace… He’s got a heart of gold, he’s got a huge heart, and he wants to help people. Even if you look at his social media, it’s about his tribe... Once we say that, to me, it was easy to make that decision.”
Cuban clearly found some common ground with Irving, and the two had a candid conversation about his previous issues. It is great to hear that Cuban actually took the time to understand Irving, and this should be an example for many other owners and executives around the league who target star players.
Mark Cuban Knew Luka And Kyrie Duo Would Work
Mark Cuban also addressed his rationale behind putting Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving together as a duo on the Mavericks. He noted that the two players were going to complement each other well, but needed the time together to click. And once that happened, they became one of the best duos in the NBA.
“They are both basketball savants. They understand the game, they know how to play, they know what it takes to win, they complement each other in a lot of ways. Luka is big, strong, and not so quick. Kyrie is quick, and has handles… Plays the game a little differently."
"When you have a backcourt that can complement each other, and both are willing to let the other guy lead when the time is right, that’s when it is going to work. When we first traded for him, they couldn’t figure each other out because they hadn’t had a preseason with each other."
"Last year, it took a little time, we didn’t get it right at the beginning but, by the end of the year, they were playing off each other great… Luka just loves to start a game by taking over. Then, Kai is 'Fourth quarter Kai'. If Kai is rolling, Luka is like ‘Here you go’. And if Kai is not rolling, he’s like ‘Give me the ball, it’s my turn’. When they got that respect and relationship, that’s when it changed.”
In the same conversation with Sharpe, Cuban was asked about the Mavericks' loss in the NBA Finals to the Boston Celtics. Speaking without any anger or bitterness, Cuban chalked up the loss to the Celtics being incredible, and a poor shooting performance from the Mavericks. He then praised the pickup of Klay Thompson for that reason.
“Celtics are good! (Laughs). They didn’t have a lot of weaknesses so. In order to beat them, we had to make a lot of threes. And we just didn’t. Our three-point shooting wasn’t up to par, where it was during the playoffs or the regular season."
"We couldn’t get stops like we needed to. And we couldn’t get to the rim when we needed to. When Jaylen Brown is blocking shots at the rim and being a rim protector, you know it’s not your day. Credit to them, but adding Klay, adding Naji [Marshall], we got better.”
The Mavericks have definitely gotten better ahead of the new NBA season, with the Klay Thompson and Naji Marshall signings. Whether they have enough to defeat the Celtics remains to be seen, but Cuban, along with the work of Mavericks GM Nico Harrison and head coach Jason Kidd, has improved this team significantly.
Perhaps Doncic and Irving are able to capitalize on this improved roster and make a solid run in the Western Conference during the regular season. A high seed in the West will be very valuable, and give the Mavs a strong chance to return to the NBA Finals.
Related: Early NBA Power Rankings: 10 Teams That Should Dominate The Regular Season
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