Dallas Mavericks on Kyrie Irving’s list of preferred teams, per Adrian Wojnarowski

The NBA’s most dramatic bad roommate, Kyrie Irving, has the Dallas Mavericks on his list of teams he’d be interested in playing for if he cannot come to an agreement with the Brooklyn Nets, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski:

Irving is most well known amongst basketball fans for his incredible Game 7 shot over Steph Curry in the 2016 NBA Finals. He spent one more year with Cleveland before pushing for a trade which led him to Boston, only to stay there for just two seasons before moving on to Brooklyn to play with fellow superstar Kevin Durant. However, the duo haven’t spent much time together on the court, mostly due to injuries and personal decisions.

It seems unlikely that the Mavericks would trade for Irving, as they currently have a difficult cap situation and are working towards potentially re-signing Jalen Brunson, who is coming off his best season. Kyrie is a mercurial player to say the least, but his including Dallas in his list of teams does speak to how star players potentially view the Mavericks as a destination for players looking to win.

My immediate basketball reaction is that on offense, Kyrie would be pretty ridiculous in the Dallas offense as he’s a remarkably gifted offensive player (if inconsistent lately in terms of shooting). Defensively, it would be a disaster, but that seems like something a team would understand before trading for him. Off the court, he’s simply a difficult player. Basketball does not seem to be a passion of his despite being supremely skilled. It’s understandable, if that’s the case, but seeing as basketball is what he gets paid to do, it’s difficult to reconcile wanting him in a Dallas uniform that has championship aspirations.

This story should resolve itself fairly soon, but at the minimum it’s gone from fan idea to on-the-table discussion. That is worth noting.