Kyrie Irving 'Frustrated’ with His Slow Start, Encouraged By Dallas Mavs' Potential

Mavs superstar Kyrie Irving has begun the season in a shooting slump, but he's encouraged by the team's potential amid a 2-0 start to the regular season.

DALLAS — Kyrie Irving is in the midst of his first complete season as a member of the Dallas Mavericks since being traded mid-season ahead of the February deadline. He was able to experience everything from his first training camp, a 12-day international preseason excursion with the team, and his first home opener at the American Airlines Center in front of Mavs fans. 

“It’s amazing," Irving said of playing in front of Mavs fans at the home opener. "Just felt good to be here, though, for the first game. It was loud. The fans were engaged, and when Luka’s having a night like that, it’s amazing to see. Not just as an opponent, just being on his team, and want to continue to feed him that good energy so he brings us home"

Irving is off to a slower start than usual through two games, averaging 19.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 6.0 assists while shooting just 39.0 percent from the floor and 16.7 percent from 3-point range. In his last performance, he was contained to just 17 points on 6-17 from the floor and 1-4 from deep against the Brooklyn Nets.

By dealing with groin soreness during the preseason, Irving was limited to appearing in just two of the team's preseason games, with his practice time being reduced as well. He sees an opportunity to get into the weight room to fully maximize his conditioning and get more lift to reduce the times he's missing short on jumpers.

"I try my best to be present and keep a seriousness about myself just to get ready,' Irving said. "For me, getting my legs underneath me. This is my third game, technically. I wish I had more time in the preseason. Just trying to get in shape and get my balance underneath me. It’s just a lot of shots that I am missing short, and when you’re missing short, you just got to continue to go into the weight room, continue to do the work that got you here, and continue to trust. That's what I’ve been doing."

Dallas Mavericks superstar Kyrie Irving attacking the Brooklyn Nets' defense / Andrew Dieb-USA TODAY Sports

Irving admitted to having some frustration with his personal performance through two games, but he appreciates the play of his teammates for helping to achieve a 2-0 start. Luka Doncic has been instrumental in those efforts by averaging 41.0 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 8.5 assists on incredible shooting splits of .580/.480/.706.

"There is a level of frustration, playing at home or against the San Antonio Spurs these first two games — you want to play exceptionally well and set a precedent,' Irving said. "Again, it’s not just a me game. It’s a team sport, and my teammates are picking me up."

When discussing his impact, Irving hinted that observers will see a "different role" from him this season but didn't get into specifics. With the Mavs having different players in the supporting cast, he feels the team is better equipped now to help alleviate some of the burden from Doncic this season compared to last. 

"I think you’re going to see a bit of a different role from me this year because of the pieces we have and how well we can give Luka [Doncic] a break when he’s not necessarily being the number-one scoring threat," Irving said. 

Irving did at least mention there hasn't been much exploration yet of him being involved in one-three pick-and-roll actions with Doncic yet. There was a lot of highlighting of that action as a potential weapon for the Mavs to utilize when the trade was made and they were playing together initially. Throughout the season, Irving anticipates that more will be looked at, especially as roles are solidified. 

"That one three pick and roll, we haven't necessarily gone to with me and Luka, and those are reps that we still got to put in, but I feel good about just how we're jelling and picking each other up,' Irving explained. "Our roles moving forward throughout the season will still be defined. So just taking one game at a time, but it's good to feel it's good to win on start the season."

A common talking point and focus from the Mavs has been a desire to push the pace. He feels satisfied with the pace the team has played with through two games but did acknowledge there will be plenty of times when it's crucial to slow things down and to execute in the half-court to maximize pressure on opposing teams. 

"There are going to be times throughout the game where we can push and pick up our pace and other times where we're going to have to become a half-court team and really make teams guard us," Irving said. 

Dallas Mavericks superstar Kyrie Irving / Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Since Irving made his Feb. 9 debut with the Mavs through the end of the 2022-23 season, no team played in more clutch games than Dallas. While the specific circumstances of some vary with injuries to superstars and other key players, the Mavs finished with just a 5-15 record in these situations. Ony the Detroit Pistons had a worse winning percentage (.091) in clutch games during this period. So far, the Mavs are 2-0 in these situations, with Irving acknowledging the value of having a training camp period to work on end-of-game situations. 

"We work on our end-of-game situations. We don't want any examples where we don't get a shot off," Irving said. It's still in the back of my mind clearly when I was first here, you don't know who will take the game-winning shot. You don't know who will be that guy that comes up clutch. The beautiful thing about this season is we have started from day one in training camp, and we all respect each other's talents.

"When you have selfless guys such as myself and Luka, and we're looking to each other, and we have the guys looking to us, and we're willing to pass the ball to each other and allow each other to be great, It sets a precedent for the rest of the team to follow suit," Irving explained. "Luka's going to be Luka. I'm going to be me. We want everybody to be themselves, but we also have roles that we want to develop into to be a greater team. It's a team sport, so as much as a person on the team may take a burden, we don't want that. We want everybody to be there for each other and live with the mistakes and success together."

As the Mavs establish an identity and roles, the team faced two very different styles of opponents to begin the season. The San Antonio Spurs were reluctant to switch in ball screen coverage and played a more traditional drop coverage, while the Nets had small ball personnel on the floor to switch often due to Nic Claxton being sidelined. Is it beneficial to see these different styles early?

"Yes, for sure," Irving said. "We also needed to see it early in the season because we're going to be playing against teams that are going to be perimeter-oriented and are going to be putting up a lot of 3s, and we got to be able to crash those boards, and secure the possession and get back on the offensive end and keep our pace up. I think it's pretty simple."

While getting off to a 2-0 start is an ideal way to begin a season, Irving sees many areas the team can improve as they continue to grow together. He conveyed the need never to get too high or too low and there always being room for a team to improve since perfection isn't a possibility in basketball. 

"Yeah, there's always going to be room for improvement. You know, throughout the season, I don't think we'll play a perfect game ever unless everybody makes 100 percent of everything," Irving said. "We get every rebound, and we keep the other team on zero. ... There's always going to be room for improvement, and that's the game of basketball. We just have to accept the flaws and the mistakes when they come and be ready to get better the next day."

The Mavs return to action on Monday after taking on the Memphis Grizzlies at FedEx Forum. If Dallas wins, it'll mark its first 3-0 start to a season since the 2004-05 season.