Kyrie Irving has now helped the Dallas Mavericks make it to the Western Conference Finals, but Shannon Sharpe made it clear he isn’t one of the five greatest guards in NBA history. Following the Mavericks’ 117-116 win in Game 6 over the Oklahoma City Thunder, a fan wanted Sharpe to talk about Irving being a top-five guard of all time, and the 55-year-old listed nine players he has over him in the rankings.
“Magic, Jordan, Kobe, Luka, Steph, D. Wade, Harden, Zeke, A.I. Top 5 is pushing it. REALLY REALLY REALLY PUSHING IT. He’s an amazing player and fun 2 watch,” Sharpe wrote.
I agree with Sharpe that Irving isn’t a top-five guard in NBA history. He is incredibly fun to watch and has a case to be regarded as the most skilled player ever, but his resume just isn’t good enough for him to be viewed as one of the five greatest guards.
Irving has won a championship and is an eight-time All-Star, which is quite impressive, but there isn’t much else there. He has made one of the All-NBA teams thrice but never made the First Team. The 32-year-old has never received an MVP vote either.
There is also another big argument against Irving here. All of those players whom Sharpe mentioned have, at some point, led their teams on deep playoff runs. Most of them even won titles as the best player.
Kyrie, meanwhile, has always been the secondary star when his teams have had success in the playoffs. He was playing second-fiddle to LeBron James when they won the title in 2016 and is now in a similar situation with Luka Doncic.
For me, when you consider all of that, there is really no legitimate case for Irving to be considered one of the five greatest guards ever. From Sharpe’s list, you can maybe argue that Kyrie should be ahead of Doncic and James Harden, but that’s about it.
Kyrie Irving Delivered A Wonderful Speech After The Mavericks Advanced To The Western Conference Finals
As for this series against the Thunder, Kyrie seemed to have experienced a myriad of emotions after helping Dallas get over the line. He claimed he was trying his best not to let some tears come out and Irving also shared a heartful speech in the Mavericks locker room after Game 6.
“You’re going to make me cry, man. I just want to thank each one of you guys, man. All your sacrifices, all the things that you guys are doing, and no one’s watching. It’s truly appreciated.”
“And all the words of affirmation that we’re giving each other go a long way, man. So keep the positivity going. Job’s not finished, but we can definitely celebrate this one. This is hard. It was tough.”
That was indeed incredibly hard but the Mavericks got the job done. Irving did his part in Game 6, recording 22 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists. He had a slow start to the game but then scored 18 points in the second half to help get the win.
For the series, Irving ended up averaging 15.7 points, 2.3 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game. While he didn’t score as much as you’d expected, he played some good defense and hit some big shots. I think he’ll have to up those scoring numbers against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Conference Finals, though, if the Mavericks are to win.
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