Kyrie Irving's new goal, plus Irving and Luka Doncic's relationship seems as strong as ever

Last season, the Dallas Mavericks made a bold move and traded for Kyrie Irving to give Luka Doncic some help. When he was traded people thought it wasn't going to work out, because they both need the ball in their hands to succeed and it will be a failed experiment.  

Last year they were unable to make the playoffs. However, this year with a whole season of playing together, they are poised to make the playoffs and hope to make a deep run with title aspirations, proving doubters wrong.  

Irving who choose to come back to the Mavericks this year after signing a multi-year deal is playing the best basketball of his career since his Cleveland days. Thanks due in part to the relationship he has built with Luka and the head coach Jason Kidd. A relationship that is getting stronger and one that he has not had since playing with LeBron James and coached by Tyronn Lue.

After several season when he was on the Celtics and Nets he just didn't seem right. His focus was not on basketball and you could see it on a night to night basis. He was one of the main reasons that the experiments with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown of the Celtics, and Kevin Durant and James Harden of the Nets didn't work out.  

This has not been the case with the Mavericks as he is now focusing on being the best teammate and basketball player he can be. He and Luka have the Mavericks rolling and are the 6th seed right now and are only two games back from the 4th seed. Following there win against the Kings on Friday, Irving had this to say with his goal he has in mind.

“I made a decision that I wanted to be one of the greatest to ever play this game. I know I have other peers of mine that are on that same mission. We’re all competing against each other. I’m fortunate to have one of the best to ever play the game in Luka with me,” Irving shared, via Landon Thomas of Mavs Fan for Life.

Luka Doncic who hasn't had a better teammate than Irving is doing his best to make this relationship work. They both are playing well and what seemed like a pair that wouldn't match well with their play-styles being similar has been the exact opposite and both have complimented each other really well.

When he was asked about the relationship he has built with Irving, Doncic talked about how it has come a long way from were it started.

“A long, long way… I think we’re both happy and we’re both doing some good things on the floor and we have great teammates so I think this team is special,” Doncic said, via Thomas. 

With both of them being happy playing in Dallas and playing with each other, and with them being positioned for a deep playoff run. The only thing that is missing to make this experiment a successful one is winning a title and they hope to do that this year.