Speaking to Rachel Nichols on the Headliners show, Dallas Mavericks’ Luka Doncic went into detail about his relationship with Kyrie Irving. Irving has had a rather controversial time in the NBA in recent years.
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However, Doncic was full of praise for his iconic teammate. When asked why, the Slovenian International initially talked about how brilliant a player Irving was. Considered to be one of the best ball handlers of all time, Doncic claimed that his 31-year-old teammate knew exactly how to win.
“First, because he is an amazing player. You know, he has won a championship. He knows what to do to win,” Doncic said, referencing Irving’s past successes in the NBA. He went on to talk about the various other ways in which Irving has proven to be an asset for the franchise. The 24-year-old claimed that the 8-time All-Star was also an invaluable presence for the team’s youngsters.
“He is a great guy, and you know, he’s with all the young guys coming in. Obviously we have some vets but we have a couple of young guys. So I think me and Kai, really gonna help them out,” Luka said.
Speaking of their off-court relationship, Nichols initially asked Luka about Irving claiming that he had teased the Slovenian during the recently concluded FIBA World Cup about having a World Cup MVP. “Yeah, you know, I always, I like to tease too a lot, so I can see he wants to do it too,” Doncic replied, before claiming that while he generally avoids talking about basketball, their conversations always seem to end up exactly there.
Doncic claimed that it was only a day ago that he was telling Irving about something, but could not remember the exact topic. He went on to talk about the Mavericks’ plans for this season, claiming that he was happy with the moves the franchise had made recently.
Kyrie Irving is impressed with Luka Doncic’s start to the season
Doncic has established himself as an early MVP contender following an utterly impressive start to the season. He is currently averaging 32.2 points per game, which has been one of the major reasons why the Mavs are off to an impressive 15-9 start to the season.
Irving himself was utterly impressed with the Slovenian’s showing, recently claiming that it is even more impressive to have the 24-year-old as a teammate, as per Sports Ilustrated.
“I think how easy it’s coming [is impressive], but also, he’s doing it in the flow of the game. He’s getting everybody involved. To see it up close as his teammate is even more impressive, especially starting the season,” Kyrie said.
Hence, Irving is not only impressed with the way Doncic has done with respect to his individual showings. He is also happy with the way the Mavs superstar tends to help out his teammates.
