Irving, Dallas, Texas, Mavericks
The troubling things in the latest Kyrie Irving move to the Dallas Mavericks
On Sunday, February 5th, the trade of Kyrie Irving from the Brooklyn Nets to the Dallas Mavericks was announced. Monday afternoon, it was made official. Tuesday, Irving was at practice in Dallas. Wednesday night, it appears Irving will get his first start in a Dallas uniform. The tweet that set the world on fire was simple:
The think pieces began spinning. On the court analysis was bountiful, and frankly convincing. On the floor, Irving and young star Luka Doncic appear to be a historic force offensively. (My favorite look was written by Nekias Duncan, here.) Dallas made it to the Western Conference Finals last season with a threatening, undersized combo guard - Jalen Brunson - playing alongside and in cycles with Doncic. Now when you make Brunson a generationally skilled guard, with a history NBA Finals performance and shot under his belt, the ceiling feels even higher. In a wide-open western conference, who can you definitively say is better than Dallas in a seven-game series? Further, if they really add the defensive help they aim to before the trade deadline, what strategy could you even implement?
The issues don’t bleed onto the floor, yet. Irving is up for a new deal this summer, and can theoretically sign wherever he wants (read: will take him). While he is incentivized to stay out of trouble, to increase his options this summer, Irving has played just over 200 games in the last six years. In four seasons in Brooklyn, Irving played 143 of 267 possible games due to injuries, refusing the Covid vaccine, and a suspension following posting support of an anti-semetic film (and doubling down on it, afterwards) on the Black Israelites.
Dallas LOVES a winner, and it’s easy to see how this could work, and Dallas loves the win. If Dallas wins Luka will get a statue and a street sign, and you can put his 77 in the rafters. Management and ownership will be praised for their gamble. Dallas will parade Doncic, and Irving, around town as stars.
But Dallas also is endless in blame for every loss. Check Dallas sports-radio following a Cowboys loss: they’re willing to chuck Pro-Bowl quarterback Dak Prescott out for a rookie, or a career back up, or whomever they could get in the next draft.
Dallas is an odd city for this all to be happening in. As a franchise, they’ve got a young star to keep happy, a second year head coach, second year General Manager, and an owner who’s familiar with controversy.
But it’s also located in a city that is split. North Dallas is highlighted by SMU, Highland Park, and “Jerry Jones money.” The northern suburbs can feel like an afterschool TV show from 1994. South Dallas, or south of I-30, is filled with the culture that echoes the blues scenes from the 20th century Deep Ellum, Bishop Arts and a deep rooted culture center, and a beautiful history in Oak Cliff just across the Trinity River. In terms of music, Dallas created Vanilla Ice, The D.O.C., Post Malone, Erykah Badu, and The Chicks.
Dallas can become quickly divided on societal issues, and it feels inevitable that -if Irving is in Dallas long enough- he will be at the center of one.
There are lots of things to be put off by with Kyrie. From the antisemitic video to the perplexing contradictions in media availabilities, Irving off of the floor can be a lot for a city, fanbase, and franchise to handle. On the floor, you wouldn’t be hard pressed to find a defender that thinks he’s harder to handle.
All things can be true. Kyrie Irving can be a phenomenally talented basketball player, a person who made a hateful mistake in judgement, one of the most charitable people in America, a person who contradicts himself often, and a deep and nuanced thinker. There are moments where he appears to have a better handle on what’s important, like taking a moment to pause from work to reflect on the events of January 6th or the summer of 2020, and moments where he doesn’t, like when he is caught on camera out at night clubs during the aforementioned reflection. Irving will forever be one of the most hot-button, lightning rod type of figures in NBA history, and he will forever be one of the games most creative and impressive scorers.
For instance, Irving can -in his first media availability as a Maverick- accurately remind the world that the NBA is (technically) and entertainment industry:
And he can have the very relatable feeling of wanting to be wanted, not just “tolerated” or “dealt with”:
But he can also make an icky reference connecting Luka Doncic to notable French (Lick) Hall of Famer, Larry Bird:
But, in watching him go to the Dallas Mavericks, my concern isn’t really either his antics on the floor or off it. The city of Dallas can be “icky” in any number of ways on their own. My concern is how Dallas, a city at the center of sports media in a way that attracts First Take, Final Fours, College National Championship games, Playoff games, and more, reacts to the first speed bump with Irving. Even something mundane, like a mental health day before the playoffs get started, could throw a lit match on a city built on oil and gas. How long until some viral radio clip from Dallas demeans Kyrie as a human being? How often until someone makes a morality judgment based on a basketball decision? How long until Dallas kicks moral high ground to the side over seeing video a 30-year-old in a night club with a hookah?
To be fair to Dallas, it’s far from the only city this would be a problem for. Dallas is far from the only “icky” city in regards to how the local media talks about some of the athletes in town, and it’s further from being the only city that would feel that way about Kyrie.
Call me a pessimist, but I’m not sure the marriage of Kyrie Irving and the city of Dallas goes well because I don’t have enough faith in either party to be able to handle the first time something goes awry. But if the Dallas Mavericks are holding up the Larry O’Brien trophy in June, maybe it never gets to that.