The roster was another issue late last season. We have some young guys that are incredibly active.” “I’m looking forward to starting from day one like we’re doing now,” Irving said. No matter how the preseason unfolds, Doncic and Irving figure it'll be better than what they went through six months ago. (“Gotta talk to Luka, he'll probably want to play the whole game in Madrid,” coach Jason Kidd said). The Mavs will play Minnesota twice in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, before an exhibition against Doncic's former EuroLeague club, Real Madrid, in Spain. I think it's going to be way better.”Ĭamp and preseason will be a little tricky, starting with a thigh injury that bothered Doncic during the Basketball World Cup with Slovenia in the Philippines. We have the whole training camp and the preseason, too. “It takes time to build chemistry, especially on the court. We went straight to playing games,” Doncic said. “He came in the middle of the season last year. Irving re-signed with Dallas on a $120 million, three-year contract with a player option in the final season, so he and Doncic have at least two seasons to see if the tandem can work. The Mavs ended up with two first-round picks on draft night. Irving sat the last two games of the season when the Mavericks openly tanked - and were later fined $750,000 for it - because they didn't think they would make the play-in tournament even if they won.ĭallas also was trying to protect a first-round pick from the 2019 Kristaps Porzingis trade with the New York Knicks, and succeeded. Both battled injuries, and in the first 18 games of the first pairing of All-Star starters in franchise history, Doncic and Irving shared the court just nine times. They weren't ready, Irving surmised, because they weren't healthy. Why can’t you guys win games?’ So we were answering a lot of questions that honestly I don’t think we were ready for.” “There was so much pressure on us to win now, win big. “It was so quick last year,” Irving said. They'll take that over the rushed effort for the All-Star pairing to click last season after the blockbuster trade, which went bust when the Mavericks faded late and missed the playoffs a year after reaching the Western Conference finals. DALLAS – The first preseason together for Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving will include long flights overseas and a herky-jerky schedule with fewer games than usual for the Dallas Mavericks.
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