Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving became teammates in the NBA for the first time thanks to the shocking Luka Doncic trade in February 2025, but these two could have potentially come together earlier. In his postgame media session after the Dallas Mavericks‘ 119-111 win over the Brooklyn Nets at American Airlines Center on Friday, Davis was asked what he now knows about Irving as a teammate and made an admission that might have surprised some.
“We’re really close,” Davis said, via Noah Weber. “We actually been trying to become teammates for a while. That’s another story; we don’t have time for that.”
These two would have been an amazing duo at their best and would be great even today, but we haven’t seen much of them. They have been teammates since February, as mentioned earlier, but have only played one game together.
Davis suffered an adductor strain on his Mavericks debut on Feb. 8, and while he sat on the sidelines, he saw Irving tear his ACL on March 3. The guard is expected to return at some point this season, but it might be a while before we get to see him play at a high level.
Getting back to Davis’ comment, you might think he was referring to the times when Irving was linked to the Los Angeles Lakers during his stint with that franchise. We actually need to go a bit further back, though.
Irving has actually spoken about his, Davis, and Kevin Durant discussing teaming up on the Boston Celtics in 2018.
“We all had that vision to play together in Boston,” Irving said, via Tim Bontemps. “Danny Ainge had a large responsibility in that, trying to make it happen, make sure I stayed in Boston. But we had some young pieces in [Jayson Tatum] and [Jaylen Brown], and if we would have traded either one of them, who knows if they win a championship?”
Irving also added that the Celtics were looking into bringing in Davis and Durant without giving up Jayson Tatum.
“That has no foreshadowing either, on anything, guys,” Irving stated. “Just letting you know right now. (laughs) We were discussing in 2018, just for everybody at home that’s watching, because I know all of these words are going to be looked at. But yeah, in 2018, it was a dream for Kyrie, AD, KD to be on one team and still keep JT and let him grow, and then see how it goes.
“But back then, those young guys weren’t ready to be in trade rumors, man,” Irving added. “Our locker room splintered after that, once they found out. It wasn’t JB or JT, but our locker room splintered once they started figuring out the trade rumors, and our season started going in a whole different way.”
A team with Irving, Durant, Davis, and a young Tatum would have been the stuff of nightmares for the rest of the NBA. You’d imagine the Celtics would have won at least a couple of championships with that core.
Ultimately, the Celtics went from potentially having those four on the team to just one of them being there a year later. Irving and Durant joined the Brooklyn Nets in free agency in 2019, while Davis was traded to the Lakers that summer.
Davis would go on to win a championship with the Lakers in 2020, while Tatum won it all with the Celtics in 2024. Irving and Durant, though, are still searching for their first titles since they left the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors, respectively.
Durant would be backing himself to lead the Houston Rockets to glory, and they are among the contenders in the West this season. The Mavericks, however, are not expected to challenge.
This win over the Nets has seen the Mavericks improve to 10-16 on the season. They have now won five of their last six games, but a title charge looks unlikely even when Irving returns. Davis, who had 24 points (10-21 FG), 14 rebounds, three assists, three steals, and two blocks against the Nets, might be gone by the time we see the nine-time All-Star on the court again, as the Mavericks are exploring the trade market for him.
