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The best way to understand why Kyrie Irving is now a member of the Dallas Mavericks is probably by thinking about who isn’t.
Dennis Smith Jr. isn’t. The Mavs drafted him ninth overall in the 2017 NBA Draft, hoping that the spring-heeled NC State product would develop into their point guard of the future … until they landed Luka Doncic in the 2018 lottery. It wasn’t like the two young ballhandlers clashed or were at each other’s throats — far from it, by all accounts — but once Doncic showed up, it became very clear very quickly to Mavericks brass which prospect they needed to go all-in on.