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Kyrie Irving made his debut for the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night in a 110-104 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Following the win, Irving was interviewed by ESPN and seemed to take some subtle shots at his former Nets teammates with some comments about how “selfless” the Mavs players are.
“Incredible,” Kyrie said when asked how his Mavericks debut felt.
“I had natural nerves out here so I was just trying to play well but it feels good just to get acclimated. It’s been a long 96 hours, to say the least, but I’m just grateful I got to play the game that I love, with some guys that were selfless out there, and it just feels good.”
Irving then doubled down on those “selfless teammate” comments, which certainly feel like subtle jabs at his former Nets teammates:
“Some high-level IQ basketball,” Irving said when asked by ESPN what he was looking forward to about playing with Luka Doncic.
“It’s simple when you play with guys that are selfless and do the little things and they don’t mind other guys being aggressive out there, so, that’s just the way games should be played — very fast-paced, and just doing the little things, details to win.”
The 30-year-old point guard also took some shots at the Nets organization in his postgame comments, saying that he’s “happy Kevin Durant got out of there.” Durant was traded to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder, and four unprotected future first-round picks on Wednesday night.
In his first game as a Maverick, Irving posted 24 points, five assists, and four rebounds in 37 minutes of action. At this time, the Mavericks are currently fourth in the Western Conference with a 30-26 record. Coincidentally, the Phoenix Suns are in fifth with the exact same record.