4. Kyrie Irving to the Mavericks
Notice how I’m writing about the loser of the trade, not the winner. Because this move was probably the nail in the coffin of Kevin Durant demanding a trade; the Nets did not win this trade as much as the Mavericks will surely end up losing it.
The Mavericks traded arguably their second and third-best players (both of whom are on fair to very-team-friendly contacts) for a player expecting a huge summer payday whose on-court production and injury history may not warrant that (to say anything of Irving’s off-court distractions.) They also traded their 2029 pick, which would’ve made more sense if they had traded overpaid role players like Davis Bertans and Dwight Powell, but not Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith.
As some of Twitter have pointed out, the Luka Doncic-Kyrie Irving offense will be great, but the defense will be atrocious. Finney-Smith (defense, corner three-point shooting) and Dinwiddie (ballhandling, shooting, and some defense and cutting) mean that the rest of the Mavericks rotation will remain terrible. What team can hope to win a title with Christian Wood and Tim Hardaway Jr. as its 3rd and 4th best players?
The Mavericks were desperate, and this trade was the direct consequence of losing Jalen Brunson. My favorite podcast, Greatest of All Talk, speculated before this trade happened that such a move could be viewed as a Trojan Horse to compel Doncic to request a trade within two years. The hosts felt that Irving’s off-court entitlement and detachment from reality would be the key role. I say the lack of good role players will be just as big a role.