Mavs' Kyrie Irving Seeks to Overcome Pressures of Major Midseason Adjustments

Dallas Mavericks superstar Kyrie Irving is still in the "learning process" after being traded midseason. He is seeking to overcome with the help of his father's advice.

DALLAS — Dallas Mavericks superstar Kyrie Irving was traded midseason for the first time in his NBA career this season. With 19 games remaining in the regular season, he's currently in the middle of an adjustment period that he hasn't had to go through before. 

“We only have 20 games, 19 games, left in the season, and for me personally, I just want to play well," Irving said. "Last two games, I just haven't played with the fluidity of my game, and just complementing others and doing the little things to get the win. Just defensive stops, and then starting off quarters well."

The previous two performances from Irving were the worst of his young Mavs tenure. He failed to reach the 20-point threshold for the first time in the team's 124-122 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday. He ended up shooting 7-18 from the floor, and it marked the only game he's played as a Maverick without a made 3-pointer. This outing came after he had more field goal attempts (22) than points (21) against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday, which proved to be a 111-108 loss. 

When Irving spoke to reporters after the Mavs' loss to the Indiana Pacers, he mentioned some advice he received from his father after text messaging with him. He's still learning his new teammates and getting comfortable, which has led to him overthinking at times instead of playing naturally.  

 "I'm human. I would love to play well, every single night I was just texting with my dad — my biggest fan, one of my harshest critics," Irving said. "But he's always gonna keep it honest, and I appreciate that. He's been watching me play for a long time, and he just told me to stay aggressive, and he looked like I was overthinking out there. And I was just telling him like that we have new lineups. I'm playing with new guys out there. It's an adjustment period.

Irving explained: "As much as I would love to play well, it doesn't happen as often as you would like, but I think moving forward, when I can ease kind of my own burdens or overthinking, I think things will naturally flow."

Irving has made it a clear emphasis to play within the flow of the game when he's alongside Luka Doncic. The approach can be especially seen in the disparity in usage rate between the two superstars during the first half of games played since the NBA All-Star break. Irving has waited until after halftime to make a major push. 

Usage Rate By Quarter — Post All-Star Break

Q1 — Doncic: 38.4%
Q1 — Irving: 21.2%

Q2 — Doncic: 29.8%
Q2 — Irving: 22.7%

Q3 — Doncic: 31.3%
Q3 — Irving: 28.3%

Q4 — Doncic: 28.6%
Q4 — Irving: 29.4%

— Grant Afseth (@GrantAfseth) March 2, 2023

Even despite the Mavs allowing the Pacers to score a staggering 106 points through the initial three quarters of the game, the team still had a chance to win down the stretch. Irving even had a chance to make a game-winner, but his step-back 3 was offline. He liked the shot, as did Luka Doncic and Mavs coach Jason Kidd. 

“Great shot, great look, just didn't go down," Irving said. "Obviously we had a few different options on that last play, but I just appreciate the coaching staff and my teammates trusting me with that shot. And just the comfort they gave me afterwards. I really want to win here, really put a lot of pressure on myself, at times I think I need to scale it back a little bit. Just because the second half of the season, we’re not going to be great every single possession."

Irving sees the Mavs as facing a magnified sense of pressure since they are currently working through mistakes that likely would be ironed out in training camp and preseason had he been a member of the team from the start of the season. 

"Usually these learning curves and learning moments happen in preseason, but it’s happening now," Irving said. "It puts a glaring eye on what we’re doing right and what we’re doing wrong, easy to criticize but for us, I just got to focus on being the best that I can be. I got to focus on showing up, not just for Luka [Doncic], but for my teammates.”

With Irving joining a new team midseason, it's not simple to be dropped into a new situation in the heat of a tough Western Conference playoff seeding race. He understands that in order for the Mavs to realize their goals, he needs to make the impact the team brought him in to make. 

"It's the big business, baby. It's the big business," Irving said. "As much pressure as I put on myself, I have goals that I would love to accomplish, but all those are pushed to the side because I know I have 15 other guys on this team that are relying on me to do things that they've either seen me do, or they're expecting me to do as one of the best players in the league. So sitting alongside Luka, I just have to show up to the party."

 "I've been in situations in this league. Some have been failures, some have been successes, but over the last few years I've made it a goal of mine to just be stronger mentally, especially dealing with the rigors of this mentally, physically, emotionally. It'll come. It'll come."

The next chance for Irving and the Mavs to bounce back is on Thursday against Joel Embiid, James Harden, and the Philadelphia 76ers.

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