Mavs’ Cuban says keeping Irving is priority, supports Kidd

DALLAS (AP) — While Dallas Mavericks owner MarkCuban says re-signing Kyrie Irving is the team’s top offseasonpriority, he doesn’t view it as a “Kyrie or bust” scenario.

The billionaire businessman who has stayed mostly silent onMavericks matters this season also is showing support for coachJason Kidd with the team currently outside the playoff picture ayear after going to the Western Conference finals in Kidd’s Dallasdebut.

Cuban held a rare session with reporters before Wednesday’s123-119 victory over Sacramento that kept alive the Mavs’ hopes ofgetting the final play-in spot as the 10th seed in the West.

Dallas gambled with the blockbuster deal for Irving before thetrade deadline in February despite his expiring contract, givingthe franchise its first pair of All-Star starters with LukaDoncic.

The Mavericks have slipped in the standings since then, in partbecause of injuries to both stars, but Cuban maintains the move wasmade for the long term. Still, Cuban stopped short of declaringIrving’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 lockerroom access changed several years ago. “I’m done giving ultimatumson players like I did last year.”

He referred to the Mavs losing Doncic sidekick Jalen Brunson tothe New York Knicks in free agency last summer, when Cubanconfidently declared they would be able to keep him because theycould pay him more. Brunson and the Knicks are safely in theEastern Conference playoffs.

While Cuban took the blame for misfiring with rosterconstruction, he fought back against suggestions from Brunson’scamp that the Mavs passed on a chance to give Brunson an extensionbefore the 2022 trade deadline. Cuban said there were nonegotiations with Brunson’s representatives last summer.

Cuban said on top of the loss of Brunson, he underestimated theeffect of the new “take” rule that significantly reduced the numberof fouls to prevent fast breaks. He said the Mavs haven’t kept upwith the faster game defensively.

As a result, Cuban said, the blame shouldn’t be on Kidd and hisstaff for the team being in danger of missing the postseasonentirely a year after the club’s first deep playoff run sincewinning the 2011 championship.

“I don’t think it’s J-Kidd’s problem that we didn’t have anidentity,” Cuban said. “The game changed in ways we didn’t expectit to change. So I blew it. It was on me personally because thegame changed in terms of the ‘take’ fouls and the speed of the gameand where you need to be defensively.”

Cuban said the Mavericks never intended for Doncic and Irving tobe the heartbeat of the defense, so the challenge will be findingthose complementary pieces in the offseason.

That’s with the owner presuming he can convince Irving to stickaround. Cuban was noncommittal on contract terms because ofuncertainty over rules in the new labor deal.

“I want him to stay for sure, and I think we have a good shot,”Cuban said. “I think he’s happy here. He told me he’s happyhere.”

Irving’s three-plus seasons in Brooklyn were filled withcontroversy, including him not being able to play many home gamesbecause he wouldn’t get vaccinated against COVID-19 and criticismwhen he tweeted a link to a film containing antisemitic material.Nike ended its relationship with Irving over the tweet.

“I think he’s a good guy,” Cuban said. “All I can tell you iseverything I knew about Kyrie because of everything I read is 100%wrong. I get emails from people all the time. I’m like, ‘Do youknow the guy?’ Once you get to know the guy, I like him. He’s notlike every guy. He’s not like every athlete. And to me, that’s apositive.”

To get Irving, the Mavericks gave up their best defensiveplayer, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Spencer Dinwiddie, an importantscorer who joined Dallas in the trade that sent Kristaps Porzingisto Washington. Dallas also surrendered an unprotected 2029first-round pick.

Entering Friday’s home game against Chicago, Doncic and Irvingare 5-11 when playing together. Each has missed time with injuries.Cuban is comfortable they’ve shown enough together to be aformidable pairing.

“We’ve got the best offensive rating I think with those two guyswhen they play together,” Cuban said. “We could not find a way toget stops in close games. I don’t think you can point to any onething, but we’ll have to make changes, obviously, to be able to getbetter defensively.”

Lurking behind the more immediate question of Irving’s contractis the future of Doncic. The 24-year-old from Slovenia has threemore years on his $215 million rookie supermax contract before aplayer option for the 2026-27 season.

Cuban won’t concern himself over whether Doncic will be anotherDirk Nowitzki, who set an NBA record by spending all 21 of hisseasons in Dallas.

“Players don’t talk like that, ‘Hey, I’ll be here for the next17 years,’” Cuban said. “He’d like to be here the whole time, butwe’ve got to earn that.”