Mavericks’ Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic are thriving when many want them to fail

The Dallas Mavericks are at the precipice of the NBA Playoffs, as the Mavericks only have 12 games remaining before the conclusion of the regular season.

The Mavericks have been able to withstand the tide of some nagging injuries in their rotation all year long en route to a 41-29 record as well as the eighth seed in the Western Conference, though the Mavericks will certainly be jousting for seeding position with the Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns in their remaining games when you take into consideration how tight the race to get out of the Play-In Tournament in the Western Conference is.

Mavericks’ Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic are thriving when many want them to fail

The Mavericks still have a lot to prove this season if they want to completely squash some outlandish narratives that have been perpetuated from the national media because of Dallas' lackluster 38-44 finish to the 2022-23 season, but one narrative that the Mavericks don't have to prove any longer is the false narrative that Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving aren't compatible on the court with one another.

In a recent piece by NBA insider Marc Stein (subscription required), Mavericks fans were able to get some further insight into how well Irving has liked his fit with the Mavericks and Doncic not just on the court, but off the court as well.

According to a source, per Stein, "there is a genuine fondness between the stars."

Stein said that Irving was the last one to leave Doncic's 25th birthday party in Toronto last month in this recent article, as well as that Doncic and Irving recently participated in an optional practice together that was supposed to be reserved only for players outside of the Mavericks' normal rotation.

These anecdotes from Stein in regard to Doncic and Irving's off-court chemistry are translating to the hardwood as well, as the Mavericks are currently 27-15 when Doncic and Irving both play together this season, a far fetch from the 5-11 record that the dynamic duo held in games played together during their brief stint together at the end of the 2022-23 season.

The question with the Mavericks and how far they can go this season largely hinges on how Dallas' role players fare down the stretch of the season as well as in the playoffs, as Irving and Doncic have proved to be Dallas' most consistent forces when they are on the court together. Irving and Doncic have been involved in far more direct offensive actions with each other this season, and the two stars have also done much better at diagnosing which one of them should take control of a given offensive possession.

Narratives of Irving and Doncic not being able to play with each other in the clutch emanated after some wonky late-game woes between the tandem toward the end of the 2022-23 season, but those narratives have been all but dispelled after Irving and Doncic's late game heroics helped carry the Mavericks to a victory over the incumbent NBA Champion Denver Nuggets last Sunday.

Stein referenced multiple times in his article that Irving has enjoyed Dallas as a city as well as the support system that the Mavericks have created around him, so hopefully Irving and Doncic continue to prove doubters wrong regarding Irving's fit in Dallas with Doncic, as the Mavericks have done everything to make this pairing work.

For more on the Dallas Mavericks as well as Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, stay tuned as we'll have you covered.