Charles Barkley on Mavs’ Luka & Kyrie Duo: ‘Not Going to Work’
As the new NBA season approaches, more and more national media pundits are voicing their doubts about the Dallas Mavericks’ star duo of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving being able to win big together.
The latest example of this came on a recent episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, as NBA legend Charles Barkley joined the show and gave his thoughts on the Mavs re-signing Irving and how he’ll play with Doncic going forward.
"Yeah, I was surprised,” Barkley said of the Mavs giving Irving a three-year, $126 million contract this summer. “I was surprised they gave him that much money … I don't think the Luka-Kyrie thing is gonna work.” … and Bill Simmons agreed with him.
With a lot of these doom-and-gloom predictions, it seems the people forking them out are focusing more on the Mavs’ overall results as a team last season — results that came due to a lack of depth and bad injury timing —and not the Doncic-Irving pairing specifically.
Together, Doncic and Irving were one of the most potent offensive duos in the league. In 900 possessions where both stars shared the floor, the Mavs were plus-4.6 per 100 possessions and scored 121.7 points per 100 possessions with a 60.2 effective field goal percentage.
What people don’t seem to fully understand is that there’s no question about Doncic and Irving being able to work together — it has already happened and will continue to happen. The real question is, what will the other players around them do?
With a revamped roster, including defensive-minded players like Grant Williams, Dereck Lively II, OMax Prosper, Dante Exum and Derrick Jones Jr. … as well as one of the best shooters in league history in Seth Curry … we’re excited to find out the answer to that question.
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