This Kyrie Situation Is a Major Problem

This Kyrie Situation Is a Major Problem

New report on Kyrie Irving looks great on the surface, but could easily be the first domino of a disaster. Mark Spears of ESPN says Kyrie’s looking good ahead of scheduled to return from his ACL. He’s working out with the purpose of playing this season, which I’m sure mass fans are glad to hear. Probably late January All-Star break. Awesome. But we kind of already knew about the All-Star break. Then it gets crazy. Someone close to him told me that if it were the playoffs, he could play right now. That’s how ahead of schedule he is. What? Kyrie could be on the floor 7 months after tearing his ACL. That is unheard of. Kyrie is 32 coming off an ACL, rehabbing faster than anyone expected. How is that bad? Well, the Mavericks have to tank to maximize their draft pick. Yes. But it goes way deeper than that. This Kyrie news could set off a chain reaction of trouble. Like just when Cooper Flag thinks the Nico Harrison drama is over, he walks into a whole other mess. Can the kid get a break? Cuz Kyrie is key to what comes next. But I am so jealous. You guys know that I’ve been a little sick. So my wife went to the game and not me. Look at these pictures she took of the fans, Kevin Durant, who was great that night. I have got to get well to go to a game. Which is why I want to give the sponsor of today’s video, SeatGeek, a huge shout out. With over 35 million downloads, SeatGeek is the number one rated ticketing app. So what game am I looking forward to? Well, the Nuggets are in Htown pretty soon. How could you not want to go to that game? And when I look around looking at the lower bowl, got to get a good view of Jokic and Durant. Ah, over here you can get in the door for just 141 bucks. Two tickets, lower bowl. And Seek’s got your back. Each ticket is rated on a scale of 1 to 10, so you know that you’re getting a good deal. Look for the green dots. Green is good, red means bad. Plus, every ticket is backed by their buyer guarantee. And of course, I’ve got a code for you guys. You can use code AM hoops 10 for 10% off your next set of tickets at SEI. That is 10% off any tickets with promo code AM hoops 10. Make sure you click the link in the description to download the app and have the code automatically added to your account so you can use it later. Many times NBA teams get lucky with their franchise player. Like the Warriors got lucky, Steph fell in the draft to ninth for them to get him. Spurs got lucky landing the number one pick in the Tim Duncan draft. But it’s what they do after getting that superstar that really counts. What separates good franchises from bad ones? In the Warriors and Spurs case, they both expertly built rosters around their star that unlocked a dynasty. But in other cases, like the Cavaliers around LeBron and 03 or the Timberwolves around Kevin Garnett, the team wasted an all-time talent. So which one are the Mavs going to be with Cooper Flag? Are they going to waste two franchise players? First Luca, now Cooper. Well, it all hinges on what they do these next few months. That is how big this is, how big the GM hire is, too. By the way, it can make or break Coup’s entire Mavs career. So, the first thing is the draft pick. Well, building around Luca, Nico Harrison traded all their picks until 2031 outside of this year. So, Coupe was dropped into a win now team. Only problem was they suck. All Nico got to replace Kyrie was D’Angelo Russell. So Jason Kidd played his rookie at point guard at a position set up to fail. Coupe faced elite defenders, had no one to set him up in good positions, which led to the worst offense in the NBA. I’m talking a 103.2 offensive rating. Got to go back to 2021 to find something worse. Now the good news is kid bailed on point Cooper, moved him to small forward. Since then, his numbers have bumped across the board. Even assists have stayed the same. Against Portland Lake, Coupe double team, spins over Denny Abdia to tie the game. He then goes at all defense to Montani Comra to send the game to OT at the line. At 18 years old, so things are looking up. But here’s the problem. Even with Cooper looking better, the team can’t just decide to tank. Okay? Tanking is tough. You have to be bad all the time. The Mavs aren’t bad enough. I mean, look around the league. Washington historically awful. Brooklyn can’t defend a high school team. Indiana in a full-on tear down. These teams are trying to lose. They’re naturally terrible. Dallas has to work to be this bad. And that’s the danger. If the Mavericks don’t stack losses now, they fall into the dreaded middle of the first round zone where you get no star, no chance, but real help next to Cooper. And unlike those other teams, Dallas can’t take their time. They don’t own a pick again till 2031. This is their one bullet. So these tiny improvements like moving Cooper to small forward, getting a little healthier, getting Kyrie back, those things are good, but they’re also catastrophic if you’re trying to land a franchise shifting player. You literally cannot afford to mess up a single week of the season. One low win streak, one stretch of confidence, boom, suddenly picking 11th instead of third. And that’s the difference between getting a guy who helps Cooper win a ring and getting a guy who’s like out of the league in four years. This is why the Mavericks are terrified. It is the worst position an NBA franchise can be in. So what do they do? Well, hold Anthony Davis back. Yeah, he’s set back, you know, another 5 days here, 10 days there. But you can only do that for so long cuz Mark Stein reports the general consensus league was that Davis is going to have to put together a sustained stretch of productive basketball in December and January to generate the sort of interest that Dallas is hoping for. And that is the second part cuz outside of the draft pick, you have to nail this Anthony Davis trade to set Cooper up for success. Now, one solution would be to ask Davis to shut it down all year. Tank now, trade later. But there is no way he would go for that. AD is 32 years old. You think he’s going to waste maybe the last year of his prime on the couch? Plus, he’s eligible for an extension next off season. Same for Kyrie. No extension, but dude wants to play. Remember Spear said someone close to Kyrie told me if it were the playoffs, he could play right now. That’s how ahead of schedule he is. I hear he wants to be back and he’s ready. Now you’re going to ask him to shut it down for the season. I am sorry, but both of these guys have a history of demanding a trade. And if the Mavs want to protect that draft pick, they’ve got a problem. Play the Stars and risk a terrible pick or shut the Stars down and risk a mutiny. They’ve already had a hell of a time with this Nico Harrison mess. I wouldn’t put it past AD and Kyrie to say, “Get me out of here.” Oh, but that would never happen. Kyrie’s so happy in Dallas. What makes you think it’s any different? Kyrie in Cleveland didn’t like LeBron, so he asked out. Boston didn’t like the fit, so he left. Brooklyn didn’t like the vibes, so he asked out. Now in Dallas, who he’s happy with Luca Donuch. What happens when Kai realizes he’s now a mentor for Cooper Flag? Is that really what he wants for his last chapter? Really? Dude may be 32 off an ACL, but still an elite ball handler, shot maker, and now he’s just going to be another mentor to young guys like the new Chris Paul. Really? You can easily see a world where he wants to move on, especially if they then ask him to shut it down while healthy. That’s why Kyrie being ahead of schedule is low-key the worst news possible. It forces the Mavericks into a decision they cannot win. Let him play and ruin the tank or sit him and risk ruining the relationship. And that’s another problem in building around Cooper. They don’t have the pick for next year. So, not only do they need to trade vets to tank now, but keep enough talent to be good next year. Wow. I feel bad for whoever gets this GM job long term because it’s like team building on hard mode. So, let’s be clear on why the Kyrie news is bad. The Mavericks are now sitting at the most important stretch of decision-making in the Cooper flag era. They have to protect that 2026 pick like their franchise depends on it, cuz it does. They have to nail the Anthony Davis trade, not just dump him. and they have to survive these next few months without alienating the only veteran talent they have left. Kyrie is sprinting through his ACL rehab should be good, but instead it’s just another complication for a front office that is already drowning in them. Dallas doesn’t have room for one more misstep, one more complication. They already burn Lucas Prime. If they mishandle this stretch, they also risk burning Cooper flags before it even gets started. But one thing you guys always comment to me is you want two things in a video. You want positive videos about the game and small market teams who are good like the Oklahoma City Thunder. So I had to look at what makes OKC so crazy good. They are on pace to break the regular season record and they’re doing it outside of the normal like super team Kobe Shack MJ model but just as dominant. So how are they doing it exactly?

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The Dallas Mavericks just got news about Kyrie Irving’s rehab from an ACL tear. On the surface it looks good but could be the first domino in a brand new mess for Cooper Flagg’s team.