Klay Thompson and the Dallas Mavericks are coming into the new season with a lot of hype in 2025. After acquiring Cooper Flagg with the number one overall draft pick, many expect them to be fierce competitors in the West. Mainly because they already have a strong roster, and their best player, Kyrie Irving, should be healthy by January to help with a playoff run.
Advertisement
Kyrie is an essential player on the Mavs’ roster. When he tore his ACL back in March, many knew it was a huge blow to the team. This was because he was the team’s leading scorer after Luka Doncic was traded a month prior. Adding salt to the wound of an already dreadful situation.
Klay recently shared that he has tremendous respect for Irving and that he considers him one of the hardest players to guard in the NBA.
“I just have great respect for Kyrie. He’s the toughest guy I ever guarded. Put him up there with LeBron, KD, and Kobe. Like, he has got no weaknesses in his game,” Klay shared on the Showtime Podcast.
Irving is often touted as the best ball handler in NBA history. Yes, even better than the likes of Pete Maravich, John Stockton, and Allen Iverson. He’s that good with the ball in his hands. He can make defenders look silly by breaking their ankles, and regularly makes his shots to cap off the electric highlights.
Klay Thompson on Kyrie Irving: “He’s such a professional & he’s a great dad. You can just feel that energy when he walks in the building, he elevates everybody…he’s such a great leader. He leads by example, he’s vocal and anytime he speaks you listen, because you respect what… pic.twitter.com/VXp5BzJni9
— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) August 30, 2025
But it’s not just Irving’s skills on the court that impress Klay. It’s his leadership off the court that really makes him believe that he’s the captain of the team.
“He’s such a professional. He’s a great dad, and you can just feel that energy when he walks in the building. He elevates everybody, and he’s our leader. I’m really excited when Kyrie can come back and we can be whole again, because we only got to see it for one half last year, and I felt like we had the chance to be the best team in the league,” Klay expressed.
On paper, a roster with Irving, Anthony Davis, and Klay should’ve thrived. But instead, injuries hindered them from reaching their full potential, and they went 13-20 after trading away Doncic.
However, now it’s a new year, and it feels like a clean slate for the Mavs. With Flagg entering the fold, he’ll join an already strong roster that could make some noise in the West, especially if they can stay relevant until Kyrie returns.
Later on in the interview, Klay compared Irving to Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar when talking about his leadership. He professed that his personality is essential to the team.
“Anytime he speaks, you know, it was probably like when Magic spoke or when Kareem spoke. I mean, I know Magic talks a lot, but when he speaks, you listen,” said the four-time champion.
Not only that, but Klay later added that he enjoys watching Kyrie play and that he respects how he has no fear with the ball in his hands. It was high praise coming from one of the best perimeter defenders in the league.
At the end of the day, we all know how important Irving is to the Mavs’ success on the court. But many may not know that he’s become quite the role model off the court as well. That’s why Klay is seemingly trying to change that narrative. Maybe it’ll play a role for the team in 2025.
