Mavs’ Star Power & Unselfishness Creates High Ceiling: ‘Ball Doesn’t Stick’

Although the Dallas Mavericks have two of the best iso players in the NBA with Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, the team will thrive by being unselfish and sharing the ball. So far, so good.

When the Dallas Mavericks traded for star point guard Kyrie Irving, many wondered how he would mesh with MVP candidate Luka Doncic.

Although Doncic and Irving are two of the best players in the league, they are, more specifically, two of the best iso players who thrive with the ball in their hands. Having star power is always a good thing, but it raises questions about how involved the rest of the roster will be.

So far, any concerns about how the duo would mesh have been alleviated, as Irving has proven to be more than capable of playing off-ball next to Doncic and running the show entirely when Doncic takes a breather. 

“He’s just a clutch player,” Doncic said of Irving. “Fourth quarters are for him. That’s what he does, and since he came here, every time he’s amazing.”

Doncic, who admitted that playing more off-ball would be more of an adjustment for him about a week ago, is doing just fine in the early stages of those adjustments.

“Good,” Doncic said of playing off-ball with Irving after the Mavs defeated the San Antonio Spurs 142-116 on Thursday night. “There is a lot more space now, so I feel good.”

Coach Jason Kidd gave his thoughts on the Mavs playing team-first basketball in Thursday’s win as well.

“I thought the ball from yesterday’s [practice] was moving, we saw that before the break,” Kidd said.

“Guys moving too, and then your quarterbacks, with Kai [Kyrie Irving] and LD [Luka Doncic], finding open guys, I thought they did a really good job. I thought Josh [Green] did good job of finding guys. The ball doesn’t stick, especially when people have said that Luka and Kai need the ball, they also know how to use their teammates, and their teammates are delivering right now.”

Having star power increases any team’s chances of competing for a championship, but having unselfish star power raises their ceiling to an even higher level.

Doncic and Irving will be able to get their numbers whenever they want, but the guys around them will have ample opportunities to contribute in a big was as well, as we saw on Thursday when newly-signed veteran Justin Holiday went for 15 points on 5-6 shooting from deep in his Mavs debut.

“He’s a pro, he’s been in the league, won a championship, he’s happy to be here and he’s going to do whatever it takes to help his team win,” Kidd said of Holiday’s performance. “Tonight was a pretty good display, a little catch and shoot, open shots, and defensively I thought he did a really good job too. Good start, we’ll go back to work tomorrow and get ready for the [Los Angeles] Lakers.

“Again, anytime we can score 142 points and Luka [Doncic] doesn’t have to play in the fourth, that’s pretty good.”

There will be many other games where Doncic, and perhaps Irving as well, will be able to sit early and get extra rest before the postseason if this current brand of Mavs basketball can be sustained.

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