Don't Worry Guys, According To Mark Cuban Kyrie Irving Is Just Misunderstood

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To my knowledge, we hadn't really heard from Mark Cuban since he decided to fork over that 3/126M extension. While that may seem like a crazy thing to do given everything we've seen over the last few years, it's not as if Cuban really had a choice. Given what he sent to the Nets to even trade for Kyrie, he and the Mavs had no leverage. Kyrie had the franchise by the short hairs and everyone knew it. 

Well while out in Vegas we finally got Cuban's thoughts on the whole thing and….well….have a listen

Ah yes, I remember these days like they were yesterday. It's your classic Kyrie spinzone that we hear from everyone, both the team and fans, when Kyrie is on your team. The Cavs and their fans did it, the Celts and their fans did it (myself included), the Nets and their fans did it, and the same is now happening with the Mavs.

Cuban said it all right in the beginning

"Kyrie is just misunderstood"

What exactly is misunderstood about Kyrie? OK so maybe he's not the literal devil like some out there may suggest, but there's nothing being misunderstood when you talk about things that he himself has done. What's misunderstood about the way he plotted his way out of Boston? What's misunderstood about all the shit that went down in Brooklyn? What's misunderstood about how things weren't exactly all gravy once he got to the Mavs?

Now I'll give Cuban some credit here as he's doing exactly what he should be doing as an owner. He's sticking up for his player. I would just ask him one quick question about all this though. If the Mavs traded for Kyrie because they viewed him as a "long term piece", well then why didn't they give him a full 5 year extension this summer? I think we all know the answer there. I think it's more likely the Mavs didn't want to lose the asset they traded for by letting him walk for nothing, but they also didn't want to fully commit the max amount of years because of all the uncertainty that goes along with getting into the Kyrie Irving business. 

If it works out, great! If not, at least they can cut ties within 3 seasons. I just don't know how many times we hear that a team wants them to be a long term piece and then doesn't throw the max amount of years at that player. It's really a 2+1 too, so it may not even make it to that 3rd year.

I think it's fair to suggest that the pressure is starting to get real for the Mavs as they enter next season. The West is loading up, Luka is entering Year 2 of his extension and is just 2 more seasons away from his player option, and they made this win now move with Kyrie only to miss the playoffs. I think they've had a pretty decent summer bringing in Grant Williams, Richaun Holmes and Seth Curry, and their two rookies in OMax and Dereck Lively II have potential. I guess my question would be, how many of these teams are the current Mavs jumping (barring injury)?

How many of those teams took a step back this summer? Until the Mavs figure out how to defend and also how to win on the road (15-26), nothing else is really going to matter. Now that they are on the clock with Luka, these next few seasons are extremely important. The team put all their chips in the Kyrie/Luka basket, and if we have another year of the lottery or they don't make a deep run, you wonder how many more seasons Luka will be willing to go through before doing what all stars do and demand a trade.