While Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says re-signing Kyrie Irving is the team’s top offseason priority, he doesn’t view it as a “Kyrie or bust” scenario.
The billionaire businessman who has stayed mostly silent on Mavericks matters this season also is showing support for coach Jason Kidd with the team currently outside the playoff picture a year after going to the Western Conference finals in Kidd’s Dallas debut.
Cuban held a rare session with reporters before Wednesday’s 123-119 victory over Sacramento that kept alive the Mavs’ hopes of getting the final play-in spot as the 10th seed in the West.
Dallas gambled with the blockbuster deal for Irving before the trade deadline in February despite his expiring contract, giving the franchise its first pair of All-Star starters with Luka Doncic.
The Mavericks have slipped in the standings since then, in part because of injuries to both stars, but Cuban maintains the move was made for the long term. Still, Cuban stopped short of declaring Irving’s return a must.
“It’s not Kyrie or bust, but we want to keep him,” said Cuban, who used to speak to reporters routinely before games before locker room access changed several years ago. “I’m done giving ultimatums on players like I did last year.”
He referred to the Mavs losing Doncic sidekick Jalen Brunson to the New York Knicks in free agency last summer, when Cuban confidently declared they would be able to keep him because they could pay him more. Brunson and the Knicks are safely in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
While Cuban took the blame for misfiring with roster construction, he fought back against suggestions from Brunson’s camp that the Mavs passed on a chance to give Brunson an extension before the 2022 trade deadline. Cuban said there were no negotiations with Brunson’s representatives last summer.
Cuban said on top of the loss of Brunson, he underestimated the effect of the new “take” rule that significantly reduced the number of fouls to prevent fast breaks. He said the Mavs haven’t kept up with the faster game defensively.
As a result, Cuban said, the blame shouldn’t be on Kidd and his staff for the team being in danger of missing the postseason entirely a year after the club’s first deep playoff run since winning the 2011 championship.