The Dallas Mavericks were recently crowned the Kings of the Western Conference, an impressive feat considering how competitive the West was this year. With young stars like Anthony Edwards and Shai-Gilgeious Alexander having breakout seasons for their respective franchises, the duo of Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic have somehow managed to steer Dallas past the competition, as the world now awaits Kyrie’s return to Boston for this year’s NBA Finals.
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With the series set to kick off on June 6th, a week from now, veteran journalist Rachel Nichols saw the moment as fitting to give Irving his flowers for bringing about a radical shift in himself and the Dallas Mavericks. Going on an ‘Irving’ rant during a recent episode of ‘Undisputed’, the veteran journalist said,
” It’s been a huge change and you gotta give him the credit for doing the work to get there. He has talked a bit about the passing of his grandfather at the beginning of the season when he first got to Boston…that really left him without the resources to mentality, emotional to deal with some of the young Celtics players.”
“Kyrie has figured out how to be the best version of himself.”@Rachel__Nichols on the Mavs star’s growth from his Boston days pic.twitter.com/ydkQnwNJ2U
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) May 31, 2024
Even though Irving’s time with the Celtics came to a bitter end in 2019, Kyrie seemed hopeful when he joined the Brooklyn Nets. But unfortunately for the 8-time All-Star, injuries and Covid would derail his plans as the Nets turned into another failed experiment for the star guard.
But Kyrie’s time in Boston wasn’t without its upsides, as Irving admittingly told Nichols that he learned “how to not touch the stove when it’s hot”, and it shows as Kyrie has managed to keep himself away from controversy this entire season.
Instead, Irving seems to have shifted his entire focus to basketball and on being a good veteran for the younger players on his team. Rachel Nichols even pointed out how Kyrie is turning out to be the exact player he wished to be in Boston, a leader both on and off the floor.
Even the role distribution between Kyrie and Luka Doncic seems to be working seamlessly, with Kyrie being the veteran leader in the locker room and on the court, while Doncic continues to function as the team’s #1 option, their ace, and their best player.
Kevin Garnett sees flashes of Kobe from Kyrie
The Dallas Mavericks are entering their upcoming contest as the ‘villains’, the underdogs who managed to make it to the Finals, just a year after they failed to even make the postseason.
Such turnarounds aren’t something we come by often and it might have a lot to do with Irving’s radical change over the last year. NBA legend and former Timberwolves player Kevin Garnett believes that Irving’s change is apparent, and even identified how Irving is currently giving off the same vibe as his mentor, the late great, Kobe Bryant. Appearing on the ‘Stephen A. Smith Show’, Garnett further added that,
“Kyrie walks around with a Kobe spirit; I don’t know if you feel that. If you know what you’re looking at, if you know what you’re looking for, you’ll see a lot of Bean (Bryant’s middle name) in Kyrie right now.”
Like Bryant, Irving seems to have learned how to embrace his teammates and win as a team, not as an individual. Even though it took Kyrie 13-season to turn into the fantastic leader he currently is, all of it would pay off if Dallas can pull off another upset in their upcoming battle against Boston.
