Since Kyrie Irving’s arrival, nothing seems to go right for the Dallas Mavericks Who will probably watch the post-season from the couch.
Pretty tense environment in the Mavs house, and certainly the recent words of Tim Hardaway Sr. have not helped to soothe tempers. The former Golden State and Miami phenom spent unfriendly words toward Luka Doncic and of the same Irving, stars of the team his son plays on. Phrases that reportedly sparked a case within the Dallas locker room, with Hardaway Jr virtually forced to give an interview to distance himself.
But let’s go in order, starting with Hardaway’s now former player’s statements at the The Carton Show at Fox Sports.
The Mavericks lack a leader, Irving and Doncic are not, they are two dominant players and great scorers but not real leaders, Brunson was. Doncic is a whiner, has a bad attitude and is always complaining to the referees. Dallas was wrong to trade Dinwiddie and Finney-Smith, its two defensive anchors, to get Kyrie.
“That trade wasn’t for them, what isn’t broken doesn’t need to be fixed. They’re missing a leader out there. Luka is not a leader, Kyrie is not a leader.”
– @HardawaySr on the Mavs: pic.twitter.com/5IfbQHmHYg
– The Carton Show (@TheCartonShow) April 5, 2023
Hardaway Jr., therefore, had to take the distance from these statements to resolve some discontent that would also come up in internal chats among the Mavs players and with the franchise’s management. He also did so publicly through an interview taken up by all the American media.
I am not my father, what he said does not represent me, I apologize on behalf of him and my family, I don’t want these things to make us lose focus. I have said many times how much leadership Doncic has, he has shown it on and off the court, without him he would not have achieved so many of the results we have come to. Irving, then, has been a leader since his arrival, he cares so much about all of us. I love both of them, I’m sorry that we have to talk about these things instead of focusing on the game, I love my father so much but he was wrong, we are two different people and his opinion is not mine.
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