ESPN's NBA rankings give Mavericks reason to think twice before trading Kyrie Irving

With less than a month until the NBA season begins, ESPN released its annual "NBA Rank," which orders the association's top 100 players. The Dallas Mavericks boasted two players on the list: Cooper Flagg at No. 23 and Kyrie Irving at No. 39. While the first thought is likely, "Oh wow! Coop is already the 23rd-best player in the NBA!" the second should be, "Oh wow… Dallas only has two players on this list…"

The burden can't all fall on Cooper Flagg

As awesome as the 19-year-old Flagg was a season ago, and will continue to be, it's equally frightening that the Mavericks have only two players on ESPN's annual list, one of whom is a 34-year-old coming off a torn ACL.

And that's where things get interesting. Dallas' second-highest-ranked player, and the only other player in ESPN's top 100, has drawn trade speculation throughout the offseason. (And, psst, we saw what happened when only one of these players took the hardwood this past year, and it wasn't pretty).

Even though we don't know for sure, because they've never actually played a game together, it's clear Flagg needs Irving. Of course, he entered the league at 18 years old a season ago, so it's impossible to put a team on your back at that age. But we still saw what the Mavericks looked like without a co-star for Flagg, and the result was 26 victories.

Why trading Kyrie Irving comes with a hefty price

Yes, Coop will keep getting better, but not playing alongside a fellow top-100 player isn't inspiring. Even the NBA's elite players have their co-stars. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has Jalen Williams. Nikola Jokic has Jamal Murray. Luka Doncic has Austin Reaves. The list goes on. If Irving were to get traded, Flagg would be left without another established top-100 player lining up beside him.

On the flip side, there's certainly reasoning behind why Dallas should consider trading Irving. He's 34 years old and coming off a torn ACL, after all. That feeds into the main argument that he doesn't fit the timeline of this up-and-coming team led by the 19-year-old Flagg.

If the Mavericks believe they can turn Irving into multiple pieces who better fit Flagg's timeline or much-needed draft capital, it's easy to understand why they'd at least listen.

But ESPN's rankings put into perspective just how much Dallas would be giving up in the process.

Dallas will essentially be punting on next season, and perhaps even the next, without Irving. And that's likely even if the Mavericks do receive a pretty good haul for the nine-time All-Star. It's a risky gamble. More can be said about why it could potentially be a savvy one, but in the short term, it'll lead to plenty of losses.

ESPN didn't uncover an unknown, but it did expose a reality. The Mavericks aren't a deep team… There isn't much established talent in Dallas besides Flagg and Irving. And if Irving does eventually get traded, Dallas will be betting that whatever comes back in the deal can eventually replace what it's losing.

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