Mavs' Kyrie Irving Shines Bright in All-Star Game; Are We Overthinking Luka Doncic's Effort?
Although the results of NBA All-Star Games mean nothing when it comes to players' true goals of winning championships, it's still a great honor to be recognized as being the best in your profession.
According to Marc Stein's latest newsletter, there have been 450 All-Star players all-time out of 4,788 total NBA players through 77 seasons. Therefore, only 9.4 percent of all players have ever gotten a chance to be an All-Star.
Given how rare the honor is from an overhead view, should some players care more and play harder during the game?
On Sunday night, Team Giannis defeated Team LeBron 185-174 in what was the league's 72nd All-Star Game. If you're coming into watching an All-Star Game and expecting to see elite defense, you probably need to adjust your expectation. However, the overall effort in this year's game was as bad as it's ever been. Does the league have a problem on its hands, or are some people overthinking this?
The Dallas Mavericks were fortunate enough to have two NBA All-Star starters suit up on Sunday night in Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, but only one of them seemed interested in actually playing. Irving broke the Mavs' All-Star scoring and assisting records by putting up 32 points and 15 assists in 29 minutes while shooting 14-21 from the field. Doncic, on the other hand, finished with four points in 19 minutes while shooting 2-5 from the field.
Before All-Star Weekend began, Doncic was asked about what he was looking forward to the most ahead of his fourth appearance at the event, to which he responded: "Sunday, when I fly to Mexico."
When asked about Doncic's lack of effort in the All-Star Game, Irving laughed it off and wished his co-star a good time on his mini vacation.
"Is Luka in Cabo right now," Irving joked. "I think he was doing his best to get his energy up for the game. I mean, you can't blame him. He's played a lot of minutes and he rightfully deserves a vacation, so hopefully he's on a plane already. ... Get a nice beer for him on the plane to Cabo, and we'll see him on Wednesday."
Although it would be better for the NBA's brand overall if all its players took the All-Star Game a little more seriously, players like Doncic are justified in just wanting to go through the motions. He has carried such a large amount of weight on his shoulders for the Mavs this season that he deserves to take some time off, as Irving pointed out.
Doncic is also coming off a heel injury that forced him to miss four crucial games before the break, and he didn't necessarily look like he was back at full strength even after returning from the injury.
Irving had a big-time All-Star performance for Team LeBron, but he knows as well as anyone that what really matters is how your team is performing from April to June. For the Mavs to reach that next level, Doncic has to be fully rested and ready to go for the final 22 games of the season.
So go enjoy that beer in Cabo and rest up, Luka. Just remember to get some light cardio in and not drink too many beers.
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