Kyrie Irving is officially a Dallas Maverick, and for better or worse, it’s making waves in the NBA.

The news broke earlier today that the Brooklyn Nets’ point guard has been traded to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for a 2029 first round pick, Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, and a couple of second round picks.

This move comes as a surprise to many basketball fans, who were following rumours that Irving would likely be traded to the Lakers, especially after much pressure from LeBron James in architecting a decision along those lines. However, Irving expressed his desire to play with a winning team again, and the Mavericks could be one of those if he pairs up well with superstar Luka Doncic. Losing Dinwiddie and DFS, two stoic pieces of that Dallas starting lineup, will surely be a hit; that being said, if Kyrie can return to his All-Star form, the Mavs’ offense could become an absolute killer. Adding a second ball-handling guard with playmaking ability should help Doncic’s spacing and give the Mavs another big threat on the court, while potentially also reducing Luka’s usage rate and keeping him in better form going into the late season.

LeBron will surely be upset going forward- indeed, a cryptic ‘Maybe It’s Me’ tweet (from LeGM to LeXistentialist) might glean some insight into what must be a fairly depressing Lakers’ locker room. Regardless, Dallas seemed to have the better offer, and Brooklyn were clearly looking to offload the notorious Irving, who has headlined recently due to anti-semitic remarks.

Is this going to be the big talent acquisition that everyone’s been saying Dallas needs? Well, with a 28th ranked offence (and 30th overall ranking) with Luka off the floor, there may well be some good production Kyrie can add to this heliocentric Mavs team. On the flip side, giving up two solid (albeit unsexy) assets in Dinwiddie and DFS may also impact defensive metrics negatively- DFS especially being influential there. The Mavs’ defense does draw the ire of its fans when they can’t field their full team, but if everyone stays healthy, they should be good.