3 Reasons Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving are the best duo in the NBA

When the Dallas Mavericks traded for Kyrie Irving last season, many fans hoped pairing him with Luka Doncic would be devastating for the rest of the league. As things transpired, injuries and a poor supporting cast prevented the newly formed duo from getting any traction together. Everyone knows the story - the Mavs failed to even make the Play-In Tournament and sat at home all summer.

Fast forward a few months, and things look a lot different. There is no doubt that a full training camp and season together will help these two superstars generate better chemistry. Add an almost entirely new supporting cast around them, better tailored to cover their weaknesses and promote their strengths, and the outlook for Dallas is bright once again.

3 Reasons Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving are the best duo in the NBA

If both stars can remain relatively healthy, the partnership of Doncic and Irving can potentially be one of the best (and unique) that the NBA has ever seen.

There are a lot of "star duos" in the league at the moment. A glance across the NBA landscape at the best seven pairings arguably looks like this:

Dallas Mavericks - Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving

Phoenix Suns - Kevin Durant and Devin Booker

Denver Nuggets - Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray

Boston Celtics - Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown

Los Angeles Lakers - LeBron James and Anthony Davis

Los Angeles Clippers - Kawhi Leonard and Paul George

Golden State Warriors - Steph Curry and Klay Thompson

Yes, there are a handful of others that could be mentioned, but when you combine star power, potential, and skins on the wall, those seven stand out the most.

Doncic and Irving have the opportunity to surpass all of those pairings as we enter the 2023-2024 season. Here are three reasons why the Mavericks' star duo is the best in the league.

1. Scoring

Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving were the top-scoring duo in the NBA last season in the short time they played together.

As teammates, they combined to score 59.4 points per game. When compared to the other six pairings mentioned earlier, the next closest would be the Celtics tandem of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who together averaged 56.7 points per game.

The overall scoring list of those seven duos looks like this:

Doncic and Irving are unique in the fact that they can both score in every possible way imaginable on the floor. They are both elite when driving to the basket, both have a great mid-range game, and both can kill the opposing team from three-point land. Doncic also has a fantastic post-up game.

Neither Irving nor Doncic have any glaring weaknesses on the offensive side of the ball.

Individually, Doncic was second in the NBA in scoring at 32.4 points per game, while Irving was 12th at 27.1 points per game (he averaged 27.0 after being traded to Dallas).

The ability of both to break down opposing defenses, with or without a screen, makes it almost impossible for opposing defenses to stop them consistently. There isn't another tandem in the league that statistically boasts a better one-two scoring punch.

2. Playmaking

Perhaps the most formidable aspect that the twosome of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving brings to the table is the ability to not only score but set up others in the offense as well. This is very rare for superstar duos in the NBA.

Together, they averaged a combined 14 assists per game. When compared to the other six duos mentioned, they were second to only Denver's Jokic and Murray (16 combined assists per game). No other pairing on the list combined for more than 9.4 assists per contest.

The difference is that the Nuggets stars don't have the same scoring capacity, as they only combined for 44.5 points per game, while the Mavs duo put up 59.4 points per game. That is a difference of almost 15 points.

When adding assists to the points scored, Luka and Kyrie are miles ahead of every other tandem in the NBA, especially among the top seven partnerships mentioned.

Those assist numbers could potentially rise in the 2023 season, as the Mavericks front office has added better three-point shooters (Grant Williams and Seth Curry) to their roster. This could widen the gap even further between Luka, Kyrie, and the rest of the league's top combinations.

That impact on the overall offense propelled Dallas to a 121.7 offensive rating when both players were on the floor together. For comparison, the Sacramento Kings led the NBA during the 2022-2023 season with an offensive rating of 119.9.

Simply put, with Luka and Kyrie sharing the hardwood, the Mavericks were the best offense in the NBA last season, and that was without having played much together.

3. Offensive versatility

Luka Doncic's size makes him a rare specimen for the point guard position. Much like LeBron James and Magic Johnson, he is a walking mismatch on offense. His ability to score in just about every way imaginable causes opposing teams to double him or just pray that he misses.

Before the trade for Kyrie Irving, opposing defenses would blitz Doncic once he crossed the half-court line and hope that the other four players for Dallas couldn't generate consistent offense in a four-on-three scenario.

This proved to be a reliable approach to defending the Mavericks, as no other player on the roster could consistently generate their own offense or create open scoring opportunities for others.

Inserting Kyrie Irving into the lineup next to Luka makes that an incredibly different scenario. Opposing teams are not going to feel safe if Kyrie Irving has the ball in his hands in a four-on-three situation.

Luka's size also makes him a candidate to be the screener for Kyrie. Jason Kidd used this approach sparingly last season, but a full training camp together should hopefully see them go to this approach more often. The amount of scoring opportunities this would create is almost endless for Dallas.

Kyrie as the ball handler, receiving a screen, is already an extremely difficult scenario for teams to defend. Irving is one of the greatest ball handlers of all time, and as mentioned earlier, can not only score from anywhere but also find open teammates with ease. The defense has to respect a player of that caliber with the ball in his hands.

With Luka operating as the screener, defenders will have to make a lose-lose decision. They will either have to focus on preventing Doncic from getting the ball or try to stop Kyrie from generating offense.

Considering Luka can score from anywhere on the court and also consistently score (and be a playmaker) with his back to the basket, there really is no correct answer for opposing coaches to choose from.

If they choose to stop Kyrie and prevent a corner three opportunity off of a pass, that leaves Doncic with BBQ chicken on the menu. He can either have single coverage in a post-up situation or attack a defender closing out at the top of the key.

Keep in mind that Doncic is an elite playmaker in addition to being an elite scorer. Luka having the ball in his hands against a defense that is trying to chaotically switch and rotate is a cupcake scenario for Dallas.

The only other duo that can somewhat compare is Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. However, Murray simply isn't of the same caliber player as Kyrie Irving. Jokic is an amazing playmaker and scorer in the half-court, but he isn't quite the playmaker that Doncic can be. That isn't a knock on Jokic, but Luka is a point guard and simply a better ball handler with more mobility.

None of the other star duos in the league have two "score from anywhere" point guards, with one of them being big enough (and skilled enough) to score offensively like a big if needed. To be honest, the NBA has never really seen a twosome of this combination.

Dallas has surrounded its star duo with better defenders and shooters this off-season. Seemingly, those changes should cover up for the defensive weaknesses they have both shown in the past. If that catapults the Mavericks to more wins, the duo of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving might be one that is remembered for generations to come.