- Charles Barkley was surprised the Mavericks gave Kyrie Irving a big deal
- Barkley doesn’t think the Kyrie and Luka Doncic pairing works
- The Mavericks missed the playoffs last season after trading for Irving
Charles Barkley isn’t too high on the Luka Doncic-Kyrie Irving pairing ahead of the 2023-24 NBA season. Barkley recently made an appearance on The Bill Simmons Podcast, where he expressed doubts about the star duo.
“I was surprised they gave that much money,” Barkley said. “But I don’t think the Luka-Kyrie thing is gonna work.”
Charles Barkley says he doesn’t think that Luka & Kyrie work together or compliment each other on Bill Simmons’ podcast. Simmons agreed.
They’re winning the title. pic.twitter.com/elUGA4bTBr
— Nick Angstadt (@NickVanExit) August 25, 2023
The sample size was relatively small, but Irving and Doncic played 16 games together last season for the Dallas Mavericks and went just 5-11. The Mavericks finished with a 38-44 record and missed even the play-in tournament as a result.
It’s not surprising then that many have doubts regarding this pairing. If you’re the Mavericks, you’d like to believe that the two can eventually make it work, with a proper pre-season under their belt.
The microscope will be on them, though, and if they get off to a slow start, you better believe more questions will be asked.
You can’t blame the Mavericks for giving Kyrie a three-year, $126 million deal, though. They simply could not afford to let him walk and if they had low-balled him, it could have led to the 31-year-old being disgruntled, and it wouldn’t have helped matters.
Can The Luka-Kyrie Pairing Work?
On paper, Doncic and Irving should be a terrifying duo
Doncic averaged an impressive 32.4 points, 8.6 rebounds, 8.0 assists, 1.4 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game last season.
Kyrie, meanwhile, put up 27.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 1.3 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game in 20 outings after joining the Mavericks.
Not many teams can boast about having two offensive players of this caliber, but that’s where the problem comes in, they are offensive players. Both Irving and Doncic struggle defensively, and their offense ultimately isn’t able to make up for it.
They need great defenders around them, and the Mavericks have tried to address the issue by signing Grant Williams and drafting Dereck Lively II. Lively also helps with their rebounding woes, but he is going to take some time to develop.
That leaves just Williams as the notable addition for next season, and he alone isn’t going to be enough to change their fortunes.
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.
Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.
