Grades for every Dallas Mavericks player ahead of the trade deadline

2. Kyrie Irving

Kyrie Irving may not be having the season that he's hoped for in his first full season with the Dallas Mavericks, but that's not to say that narrative is reflective of Irving's on-court production this season. Irving has only played in 27 out of Dallas' 47 games thus far, as he's dealt with a myriad of injuries this season that most recently featured a thumb injury that will keep Irving out for fifth consecutive game.

Many fans have been disappointed with Irving's inability to stay on the court this season, but luckily he's been unscathed as far as major injuries go. Irving is 31-years-old so applying proper maintenance to his body is something that the Mavericks' training staff is certainly keeping a keen eye on, so we can hope that their extra cautious approach will pay dividends come playoff time and make Irving more durable in the long run.

Nonetheless, when Irving has been on the court this season he's been electric for Dallas, and he's still been the ultimate teammate even when out due to injury. Irving is averaging 25.2 points, 5.3 assists, and 5.1 rebounds per game this season, and he's shooting an 47.2 percent from the field and a hyper-efficient 41.1 percent from the three-point line.

Irving has done a great job working off-ball when playing with Luka Doncic, often coming off of cross screens and down screens to find open pockets in the defense or draw mismatches. When he is the only ball-handler on the floor, Irving has looked much more comfortable using his vast array of dribble moves to get to the rim as well as his spots in the mid-range contrary to the first few games of the season.

Irving adds a ton of dynamism to Dallas' offense when he's out there given that he can play fluidly off the catch and as the main ball handler, and he defends and rebounds extremely well for his size at 6-foot-2. If Irving hadn't missed 20 games at this juncture in the season he'd get an A+ given how skilled he is, but we can't neglect his missed time so he lands at a B.