Mavs vs. Lakers: Kyrie Irving Motivation for Luka Doncic & LeBron James?

The Dallas Mavericks take on the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday. Dallas is fighting for home-court advantage in the playoff race while LA is trying to get back in the play-in tournament range. Luka Doncic and LeBron James will have an opportunity to make an early free agency pitch to Kyrie Irving.

Dalton Trigg | Feb 25, 2023

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From a Western Conference standings point of view, the Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers are on different tiers heading into Sunday's matinee matchup at American Airlines Center.

The Mavs are 32-29 and just one game back of the Phoenix Suns for fourth-place in the West. The Lakers, although they have gone 3-1 since the trade deadline, are 28-32 and fighting just to get back into play-in tournament range.

Ever since the Mavs traded for Kyrie Irving nearly three weeks ago, a lot of the focus in the national media has been on LeBron James' desire to recruit Irving away from Dallas and to the Lakers in free agency this summer. Although we believe this particular agenda has more of a "bark" element to it than "bite," we'll give in to the hype for one game.

If the Lakers are truly a threat to the Mavs' attempts to retain Irving in free agency, Sunday presents a good opportunity for Luka Doncic, coach Jason Kidd and the rest of the crew to get an early recruiting pitch in. On the other hand, James will have a chance to make an impression on Irving himself as well.

Dallas has the better basketball situation right now and in the future, and the Mavs need to come out and show the world that -- again -- on primetime television, at least if they want to avoid elevated speculation with Irving and the Lakers.

As great as James is and continues to be, he's 38 years old and closer to the end of his career than his prime. Doncic, whose game has been compared to James' on many occasions, will turn 24 years old on Tuesday and has yet to reach his prime despite being on his way to a fourth consecutive All-NBA First Team selection. Irving's chances of finishing his career with another title -- as well as maximizing his earnings -- are greater alongside Doncic in Dallas than they would be alongside an aging James in LA.

The Lakers have improved their roster with the additions of D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt since their last meeting with Dallas, but the Mavs have greatly improved their ceiling with the additions of Irving and veteran shooting guard Justin Holiday. The Mavs beat the Lakers 119-115 in double overtime the last time these teams met on Jan. 12, and yet, Sunday's matchup has the potential to be even better.

“There’s stars on both sides,” Kidd said. “You got the greatest to ever play with LeBron and the Lakers are a different team with the trade.”

It's Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving vs. LeBron James and Anthony Davis in game that the entire NBA will have its eyes on. Let the fun -- and the drama -- begin.

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Published Feb 25, 2023

DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.