It seems that Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving is enjoying himself in the 2024 offseason. Irving was recently spotted walking shirtless through the streets of China, with fans of the Mavericks star bombarding him with autograph and picture requests.
(via Kyrie Center on X, formerly Twitter).
https://x.com/ClutchPoints/status/1836401349665145065
NBA players are currently enjoying the last couple of weeks of rest and recovery that they will have before training camp kicks back into gear starting in a couple weeks in preparation for the upcoming 2024-25 NBA season, which begins on October 22.
It's been a busy offseason for the Mavericks, who parted ways with familiar faces like Derrick Jones Jr. in free agency but also were able to lure in sharpshooter Klay Thompson from the Golden State Warriors, addressing a need that stuck out like a sore thumb in their NBA Finals loss to the Boston Celtics, Irving's former team.
Have the Mavericks done enough to catch the Celtics?
No.
While Thompson does indeed bring a level of floor spacing and firepower that was sorely missing from the Mavericks' lineup in their loss to the Celtics, the series was so lopsided that it seemed Dallas was at least two or three pieces away from truly balancing the scales.
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It's also worth considering just how productive Thompson will be in his age 35 season, and the fact that he's no longer a plus on the defensive end of the floor, complicating lineups that head coach Jason Kidd may want to run featuring him alongside Irving and Luka Doncic.
At this point, it seems that the days of hoping that Irving will be able to break whatever mental block he has when facing the Celtics are over, as the point guard once again seemed out of his element under the TD Garden lights in the playoffs.
In any case, Dallas is set to get things tipped off on October 23 vs the San Antonio Spurs.
