NBA News: NBA Analyst Has Massive Kyrie Irving, Mavericks Prediction

Former NBA big man Kendrick Perkins, who now works for ESPN, believes Dallas Mavericks point guard Kyrie Irving will make one of the three All-NBA teams next season.

Irving recently fired back at a tweet that pointed out his lack of success in the NBA without Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James. The Duke product requested a trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers in the summer of 2017, ending his three-year run with LeBron. Since then, Irving hasn’t gotten back to the NBA Finals.

The Cavaliers traded Irving to the Boston Celtics in the summer of 2017. Irving played two seasons in Boston, averaging 24.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 6.1 assists. The All-Star told Celtics fans before the 2018-19 season started that he would re-sign with the team in the summer of 2019 as a free agent.

However, Irving didn’t keep his promise and joined the Brooklyn Nets instead. The NBA champion played in 143 games with the Nets and averaged 27.1 points, 4.8 rebounds and 5.8 assists. Despite having Irving, James Harden and Kevin Durant, though, Brooklyn never got past the second round of the playoffs.

Irving requested a trade from the Nets last season and was traded to the Mavericks. Dallas went only 8-12 with Irving in the lineup and didn’t even qualify for the play-in tournament. The Mavericks still re-signed Irving to a three-year, $126 million contract this summer because they didn’t want to lose him for nothing after trading assets to acquire him.

LeBron has reached two NBA Finals since Irving requested a trade from the Cavaliers. Cleveland got swept by the Golden State Warriors in the 2018 Finals. LeBron signed with the Lakers in the summer of 2018 and guided the franchise to the 2020 championship.

Irving is averaging 25.8 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5.9 assists in 290 games since requesting a trade from the Cavaliers. Meanwhile, LeBron is putting up 27.4 points, 8.2 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game in 360 games since Irving left him. It’s going to be interesting to see if Irving is able to win a title without LeBron.

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