Will the Dallas Mavericks regret the Kyrie Irving trade?

Dallas Mavericks need Kyrie Irving on the court but can they count on him to be there?

There has been plenty of talk about what Luka Doncic and Kyrie can be on the court. They are two of the best scorers and shot creators in the world. The Mavericks' offense is guaranteed to be elite, but how much will they play together?

During his three-plus seasons in Brooklyn, Kyrie played in just 152 of a possible 289 games when combining regular and postseason contests. That is just 52.6 percent. Some of those were not injury-related, but it is not like Irving was an ironman before signing with the Nets. He played in just 77.4 percent of the games during his first eight seasons.

Getting 65 regular season games from Irving feels like the best the Dallas Mavericks could hope for, which leaves 17 contests with just Luka Doncic running the show each year.

The Dallas Mavericks moved on from Kristaps Porzingis in part because they could not trust him to be available when the games matter most, but they have reentered that territory with Kyrie Irving. The 6’2 point guard has missed three of his first 14 games with the Mavs, which is a 65-game pace over a full 82-game regular season. Kyrie is going to miss time.

His injury history is not the only thing that should worry the Dallas Mavericks.