Kyrie Irving on Mavericks’ playoff hopes: ‘It kind of looks like a bit of a clusterf—’

As we near the end of the 2022-23 NBA season, the Mavericks are not where they expected to be in the Western Conference playoff picture.

After falling in the Western Conference Finals last year, the anticipation was real for Dallas to get over the hump and reach the NBA Finals for the first time with Luka Doncic this season. When it went all in at the trade deadline and made a deal to acquire All-Star guard Kyrie Irving, that was supposed to be the missing piece to make it happen.

Instead, it has been quite the opposite. On Wednesday, the Mavericks fell to the 76ers, marking their fifth loss in the last six games. Since acquiring Irving, Dallas has gone 7-9 in 16 games with the star guard.

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As of today, the Mavericks are 37-40, sitting one game back from the Thunder (who, by the way, won on a buzzer-beater on Wednesday) for the final spot in the Play-In Tournament.

Yes, you read that correctly. Doncic, Irving and the Mavericks would miss the playoffs altogether if the season ended today.

After the loss to Philadelphia, Irving had a long-winded response when he was asked about Dallas’ playoff hopes and what it has been like being traded mid-season for the first time in his career.

“Just human nature, man. I’m getting traded to a new work environment, and it’s a lot of newness. I’m trying to introduce myself to everybody, figure out who do guys go to on the team to confide in off the court? Who is our coaching staff as people? Upper management, who are they as people? What do they expect from me? The big question, why they traded for me? And, you know, what does it look like for the future?,” Irving told the media, per ESPN’s Tim Bontemps.

“… Just where we are in the season, and where other teams are positioned already, it kind of looks like a bit of a clusterf—, to be honest with you.

“We’re 37-40, and we’re trying to fight to get into the Play-In game. It’s not the expectations I don’t think any of us had in the locker room.”

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Will the Mavericks miss the playoffs?

As it stands, the Mavericks would be the first team out of the playoffs, trailing the Thunder by one game for the No. 10 seed with five games left in the season.

Because the Mavericks have already lost the tiebreaker to the Thunder, they would have to finish one full game ahead of Oklahoma City to qualify for the Play-In Tournament.

Dallas split its season series with the Pelicans, meaning that tiebreaker would come down to division record. New Orleans (10-5) is a game up on the Mavericks (9-7) in that department.

Dallas owns the tiebreaker over the Lakers and Jazz, but the Timberwolves own the tiebreaker over the Mavericks.

According to FiveThirtyEight’s playoff prediction model, the Mavericks have a 19.0 percent chance to make the postseason.

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