Mavericks’ Luka Doncic set for debut alongside Kyrie Irving

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Luka Doncic is predicted to play alongside his new All-Star backcourt companion Kyrie Irving for the primary time Saturday night time.

Doncic was upgraded to possible for the second sport of a street back-to-back in opposition to the Sacramento Kings after lacking the previous 4 video games with a proper heel contusion.

The Mavs, who misplaced the primary seven video games that Doncic missed this season, are on a three-game profitable streak. That contains wire-to-wire victories over the LA Clippers and Kings within the two video games since Irving joined the Mavs following a blockbuster commerce with the Brooklyn Nets.

Doncic, who leads the NBA in scoring at 33.4 factors per sport, and Irving (27.0) will type one of many league’s most explosive offensive duos.

“I never played with a guy like Kyrie, so it’s obviously going to be a work in progress,” stated Doncic, who additionally ranks seventh within the league in assists with 8.2. “But I think it’s going to be fine. We both can play on the ball. For me, I think it’s going to be a learning process, for sure. Outside of my first season, I didn’t play off the ball. But with a guy like him it’s going to be different.”

Irving, who has averaged 24.5 factors and seven.5 assists in two video games with the Mavs, is accustomed to enjoying alongside different superstars, having been teammates with LeBron James and Kevin Durant, amongst others.

He is raring to play with Doncic and work out how they will mesh.

“I’m excited to see how that looks like,” Irving stated. “As much as we can make the game easier for each other and keep the pace going, that’d be a benefit for us. I’m looking forward to seeing what that looks like with Luka out there and me running the wing, just shooters getting to their spots, and then if we don’t have anything, just settling into half court. We’ve got some great options out there.”