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The Mavericks take the plunge into Kyrieland. Hope they packed oxygen.

Feb 6

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Good morning. Lots to cover. Let’s basketball.

One Paragraph on Kyrie

I have long promised that as a subscriber to this newsletter, I will not subject you to more than one (1) paragraph about Kyrie Irving in any given issue. This is going to be challenge this morning, my friends, because Kyrie Irving has been traded to the Dallas Mavericks. This might end up as the longest paragraph in Good Morning It’s Basketball history, but I am a man of my word. A Kyrie trade request went public on Friday. Within 48 hours he was a Maverick. The cost was Dorian Finney-Smith, Spencer Dinwiddie, a future first and two seconds. This is to say that the cost is likely a longer-term contract for Kyrie this summer — Tim MacMahon reports that extension talk will be deferred until then. Kyrie played in 51% of the Nets’ regular season games while signed to the team. There were a few injuries in there, but often non-injury absences cost the games. The talent — particularly the scoring talent — is alluring. The Mavericks are clearly feeling some sense of frustration and possible desperation, given that DFS and a pick blows a good bit of whatever booty they had for a big trade within the next two years. This very well may be their big swing. And it’s for the least reliable star in the NBA. Good luck. (There’s also a sentiment flying around that notes if Kyrie walks this summer it opens up max cap space for Dallas. I encourage anyone suggesting this as a silver lining for Dallas — trading DFS and pick to get max cap space — to research the Mavericks’ free agent signings! You can’t give JaVale McGee another contract to sit on the bench, love, he’s already got one.) One last thing to note is the attempt by the Mavericks to convince the viewing public that the Mavericks as well-suited to absorb Kyrie’s particular flavor of chaos. In Shams Charania’s piece in The Athletic this is laundered in the framing that “team sources say that they believe their organization’s culture and environment will be an ideal fit for Irving.” I’m delighted that anyone in that franchise thought they could get away with saying that with a straight face … and did! Babe, we’re less than 12 moon cycles out from the longtime general manager suing the franchise on allegations of retaliation over reporting sexual misconduct by the owner’s chief of staff and the franchise accusing the longtime GM of extortion. And all of that happened a year after a recovering big-money gambler got yachted out of the organization because he tried to tell Luka to calm down during a game. (It’s a little more complicated.) And all this a couple years after the Mavericks were revealed to have harbored a horrifyingly hostile work environment for most of Mark Cuban’s ownership reign. Some culture and environment the Mavericks have there, right? OK, this paragraph is officially too long. I am sorry.

Steph, Again

Steph Curry left the Warriors’ game Saturday against the Mavericks with a leg injury, with the team indicating they’ll have a timeline in the next few days. Woj reports Curry will be out through All-Star Weekend. Injury expert Jeff Stotts reports that this is a rare injury in the NBA, but the expectations he’ll miss a month seem on point assuming normal healing and no setbacks.

You’ll recall that the Warriors shockingly went 7-7 without Curry during his last injury absence. They’ll need to do it again to sew up a playoff berth. Golden State is currently one of nine teams in the West with 26 or 27 losses. Seven of the team’s 10 games over the next month are against fellow mid-West travelers.

Shower Thought

Until the big trade on Sunday, the Lone Star State had just one player represented in the 2023 All-Star Game. Now it has two, no longer making it a lone star state.

That’s Plenty of Bamba, No Need for Mo

Friday was absolutely wild in the NBA between the Kyrie trade request and this fight between Austin Rivers and Mo Bamba. Second fight in a week in the NBA, and this one was a bit of a throwback. It was, I dare say, a little bit real!

Rivers apparently requested to answer media questions after the game, and explained in detail what happened from his point of view. Save for the podcast next time, my man.

The Markelle Fultz video that Rivers mentions is really funny and telling.

CJ Fogler AKA Perc70 #BlackLivesMatter @cjzero

Gonna watch Markelle Fultz's face for the rest of the night

Bamba and Rivers continued agitating each other on social media after the game, but that stuff is pretty boring. Bamba was suspended four games, Rivers picked up three games and Jalen Suggs got hit with a 1-game suspension for his takedown of Rivers.

It’s been a lot of machismo drama in the NBA lately. Are the dudes OK? Just breathe! Have some tea!

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Scores

FRIDAY

Hornets 112, Pistons 118

Kings 104, Pacers 107 —

Fred Katz @FredKatz

Tyrese Haliburton’s new profile pic after making All-Star last night:

Blazers 124, Wizards 116

Suns 106, Celtics 94 — … Suns?

Raptors 117, Rockets 111

Magic 127, Timberwolves 120 — Lost in the Rivers-Bamba ordeal is that this is a brutal loss for the Wolves.

Sixers 137, Spurs 125

Hawks 115, Jazz 108

SATURDAY

Wizards 123, Nets 125 — Incredible effort and finish from Cam Thomas to legitimately save the Nets from a loss as they hold on from a top-5 spot.

Lakers 126, Pelicans 131 — Great resilience from the Pelicans and especially Brandon Ingram to break the skid and beat a team they’ll need to fend off for a playoff or play-in spot.

LeBron’s going to break the all-time scoring record on Tuesday or Thursday.

Suns 116, Pistons 100

Clippers 134, Knicks 128 (OT) — Dunk of the Year candidate from Norman Powell. Sheesh.

NBA @NBA

Norman Powell POSTER 🤯 @LAClippers up late in Q4 on the NBA App! ➡️: app.link.nba.com/e/watch_now

Not long after that moment, on FRENCH HERITAGE NIGHT at Madison Square Garden, Nicolas Batum sent the game to overtime on a buzzer-beating three. Incredible.

NBA France @NBAFRANCE

BATUM FROM 3 🚨 @LAClippers

[taps the sign on the door]

Seth Rosenthal @seth_rosenthal

There’s really no point in watching the first 47 minutes of Knicks games. Whatever happens, for better or worse, it’s all gonna get overwritten by one rollicking minute of bullshit

Blazers 121, Bulls 129

Heat 115, Bucks 123 — Milwaukee is streaking.

Rockets 121, Thunder 153 — Another game with a team scoring a Buck Fifty in regulation. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with 42 on 23 FGAs in the win.

Mavericks 113, Warriors 119 — Dallas falls to 0-7 without Luka Doncic this season. 0-7 in a conference where nine teams are separated by two losses with five playoff spots on the line. Brutal.

Hawks 108, Nuggets 128 — Jamal Murray is all the way back.

SUNDAY

Magic 119, Hornets 113

Cavaliers 122, Pacers 103

Sixers 97, Knicks 108 — The Knicks contain multitudes. This was a comeback from 20 down as Philadelphia’s bench lineups did … not do the job.

Raptors 106, Grizzlies 103 — The Memphis on-court struggles continue. But this is pure “build around this guy” stuff from Scottie Barnes as the Raptors start to look up.

NBA TV @NBATV

CLUTCH Scottie Barnes deuce 🇨🇦

There’s some new weirdness off the court, too. The Athletic reports that a few “close associates” of Ja Morant have been banned from FedEx Forum after an investigation found that they tried to intimidate members of the Pacers after a game in Memphis last week. ($) The Pacers staff allege a gun with a laser sight was pointed at them; the NBA couldn’t verify it was a gun, but did the investigation. Morant was reportedly in the vehicle from which the laser was pointing. The Grizzlies are basically demurring and Morant is claiming the whole thing is a lie. Weird s—t.

Nuggets 98, Timberwolves 128

Kings 104, Pelicans 136 — Great back-to-back wins for the Pels. One of the Kings’ worst performances of the season.

Schedule

All times Eastern.

Celtics at Pistons, 7
Cavaliers at Wizards, 7
Clippers at Nets, 7:30, NBA TV
Spurs at Bulls, 8
Kings at Rockets, 8
Mavericks at Jazz, 9
Thunder at Warriors, 10
Bucks at Blazers, 10, NBA TV

And Finally

I wrote about the Wizards and they’ve had a game postponed and lost two straight. My bad. But at least they have the greatest fashion icon of our time.