Dallas Mavericks Kyrie Irving

Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic recently explained how this season has been frustrating, and he has his team's full support.

Mavs star Kyrie Irving expressed his displeasure over the ongoing blame game in Dallas after Luka Doncic shared his frustration.

Kyrie Irving certainly makes a great point here. The team has now lost four straight and has gone 3-7 in their last 10 games. This is a 24/7 job.

Dallas has dropped to 11th place in the Western Conference since trading for Kyrie Irving.

Without him, the Mavericks would be reduced to Luka and the Doncic-aires — a precarious position for the franchise’s relationships with its star, who is desperate to consistently win, and its fans, who rightfully want a cohesive team capable of placating the presumed heir to Dirk Nowitzki. Yet his departure would be a massive blow to the Mavericks’ credibility following their failed experiment with Kristaps Porzingis and Brunson’s quick exit. The four-time all-star remains a central part of Dallas’s problem on the defensive end, too, and it’s not enough to simply set up teammates with laserlike passes. Doncic’s competitive fire will always burn, and he isn’t likely to go down quietly over the next two weeks. If Doncic’s anger and despair do harden, it’s never been easier for him to force his way to a new destination. Doncic’s quick temper, angry gestures and regular scowls run contrary to the goal of building a healthy and inclusive team culture. His stream of technical fouls has been a source of bad vibes all season, and the fact that he’s on the brink of a suspension counts as a major failure of leadership. Unfortunately, the Mavericks’ inability to seamlessly integrate Irving has had the opposite effect: the pressure has never been higher on everyone involved. [Kyrie Irving first suited up for the Mavericks](https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/02/05/kyrie-irving-trade-dallas-mavericks/?itid=lk_inline_manual_5), Dallas has gone 7-13 and plunged from the Western Conference’s No. But if one is off, Dallas’s margin for error evaporates because the duo’s teammates are reduced to ornamental offensive roles and lack defensive chops. The pair has mostly functioned as dual soloists, delighting with their individual skills but struggling to construct a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. To pin all of this on Irving would be a mistake.

Following frustrating back-to-back losses to the Charlotte Hornets, Kyrie Irving supported star Luka Doncic, who recently vented on-and-off-court struggles ...