Kyrie Irving is ‘proud’ of Mavs teammate Luka Doncic for being ‘honest and open’ about frustrations

Luka Doncic’s frustrations with the Dallas Mavericks’ floundering season boiled over after back-to-back losses to the lowly Charlotte Hornets, but his newest teammate, Kyrie Irving, is ‘proud’ to see the Slovenian sensation open about his problems.

‘I’m sure he’s had some private time to acknowledge it, but when he acknowledges it in a public eye, I think it’s usually suppressed emotions from a long period of time and he just wanted to get it out off of his chest, and I’m proud of him for being honest and open,’ Irving told reporters on Sunday after the Mavericks fell, 110-104 in Charlotte.

‘We obviously talked about it in the locker room briefly, but for me, I’ve said throughout my whole entire year, this past year, of just really paying attention to the human element.

‘The wins and losses come and go, but the kind of nit-picking of judgment of what’s going on when someone says, ”I’m having human emotions,” and then it goes to ”what’s the blame or who’s the blame?”’ Irving continued.’

Kyrie Irving (left) is proud of the way his teammate Luka Doncic (right) is handling adversity

‘And it starts pointing fingers. You know, that’s the aspect that I don’t enjoy about this sport at all. There’s a human element that goes into this where we perform every single day. You know, this is a 24/7 job. I don’t think people realize that, at times, that are not entrenched with us.’ 

Although Irving’s battlefield imagery might be a bit too strong, Doncic’s frustrations are understandable. The team is only 3-8 with both him and Irving in the lineup, they’re currently in 11th place in the West, and Doncic is facing a like one-game ban after receiving his 16th technical foul of the season on Sunday.

Unless it’s rescinded, Doncic will miss Monday’s game against the Pacers in Indianapolis.

Doncic had been bickering with officials for much of Sunday’s loss before getting T’d up in the third quarter.

‘It’s really frustrating,’ Doncic said after losing to the Hornets in Dallas on Saturday. ‘I think you can see it with me on the court. Sometimes I don’t feel it’s me. I’m just being out there, you know? I used to have really fun smiling on court, but it’s just been so frustrating for a lot of reasons, not just basketball.’

Over his last ten games, Doncic’s shooting percentage has dropped to 42.2 percent, while his turnovers have skyrocketed to 4.2 per game.

The Dallas Mavericks are just 3-8 with Irving (left) and Doncic (right) both in the lineup