Mavs' Kyrie Irving Appears to Defend Jason Kidd; Return Fire at Lakers' Christian Wood?

After newly-signed Los Angeles Lakers big man Christian Wood took some subtle shots at the Dallas Mavericks and Jason Kidd on Wednesday, star point guard Kyrie Irving took to X, formerly known as Twitter, in what appeared to be a post defending his head coach.

Very rarely do we have multiple days go by where there isn't any drama happening in the NBA. On Wednesday, we saw Houston Rockets and Canada forward Dillon Brooks, as well as Dallas Mavericks and Slovenia star Luka Doncic, both get ejected from their FIBA World Cup quarterfinals matchup.

Back here in the U.S., more drama has formed with Christian Wood's departure from Dallas. Wood signed a two-year contract with the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday, then put out a statement on Wednesday taking some indirect shots at Mavs head coach Jason Kidd while saying he's "motivated after what Dallas did" to him.

It appears that our drama saga isn't quite finished yet, though, as Mavs star Kyrie Irving took to X, formerly known as Twitter, in what appeared to be a post defending his head coach … at least that’s what we think.

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"Smear campaigns are created by all the cowards in our world," Irving wrote. "They throw their rocks and then hide in the crowd and hope you crash out. And when you find out who it was/is and see them in person, go check their temperature face to face lol, I promise you their energy is different."

Irving obviously doesn't mention Wood by name in that post, just as Wood didn't mention Kidd by name in his statement. However, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to connect the dots on this particular situation, especially after Mavs owner Mark Cuban recently stated that last season's failure was due to certain role players not accepting their roles.

There’s also the possibility that Irving could be referencing the ‘smear campaign’ that’s currently happening with James Harden, who has had his fair share of drama with the Philadelphia 76ers this summer. Alas, we’ll never fully know, as Irving’s message was inconspicuous.

The Mavs-Wood breakup has certainly ended up being messier than it should've been, but at least Irving, Kidd and the rest of the completely retooled Dallas roster can go into training camp with a new attitude and renewed level of energy and commitment.