Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving was named Wednesday as one of six finalists for this season’s NBA Sportsmanship Award,
named the Joe Dumars Trophy.
The award, which Dumars was the inaugural winner of in 2000 when he played for Detroit, is presented to the player who best represents the ideals of sportsmanship on the court. It’s also an award Mavs coach Jason Kidd won as a player with the Mavs in the 2011-12 season and with the New York Knicks in the 2012-13 campaign.
“I won something twice?,” Kidd sheepishly asked, while grinning.
Kidd then paid homage to Dumars, saying: “When you talk about the Joe Dumars Award, just the human being, and when you talk about Joe for a second, just what he stood for on and off the floor when you talk about a true pro. And so for Kai to be in that category is great. It’s well deserved.”
The award is voted on by the various players in the NBA. Kidd even mentioned Irving’s signature shoe, made by ANTA, as something that has grabbed NBA player’s attention.
“It just shows what the players think about Kai and the impact that he has on and off the floor,” Kidd said. “As much as we see, not just our guys wearing the ANTA, but everyone else around the league starting to wear ANTA, it just shows the belief or the confidence that they have in Kai.
“So, it’s really cool to see him hopefully get that award, because he’s come a long ways and I’m so happy for what he’s doing with his journey on and off with floor. So, hopefully he does get that award.”
The other finalists for the award are Jarrett Allen (Cleveland), Dorian-Finney-Smith (Los Angeles Lakers), Shae-Gilgeous Alexander (Oklahoma City), Jrue Holiday (Boston) and Franz Wagner (Orlando). One player was picked from each of the NBA’s six divisions for this award, which was won last year by Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey, who hails from Garland,
MAVS ARE . . . PEAKING? Before Wednesday’s game against Atlanta, coach Jason Kidd was in no mood to talk about his team peaking at a time when the Mavs will possibly earn a berth in the NBA’s play-in tournament. “Let’s just focus on Atlanta,” Kidd said. “Hopefully, we’ll get a chance to peak in the play-in.
“We can’t look ahead. If we can get through this healthy these next six games, (and) hopefully take care of business that puts us in position, then we can talk about peaking.”
After beating Atlanta – along with 10th-seeded Sacramento losing to Washington on Wednesday, 116-111, the Mavs (38-39) are one-and-a-h
alf games ahead of the Kings (36-40) in the battle for the No. 9 seed, who will host a play-in game on April 16 against the No. 10 seed.
Also, Phoenix is seed No. 11 with 35-41 record.
“I think peaking, that wouldn’t be fair to talk about today or tomorrow,” Kidd said. “Maybe at the end of the regular season.
“Then we can start going into that situation, because (the play-in tournament is) going to be Game 7.”
But peaking?
“It’s possible, because look what we’re doing,” Kidd said. “No one thought this was possible. No one in this room thought we were going to be wh
ere we are, so it is possible.
“The group that we have truly believe that we can play at a high level and that we can win. This is totally different that last year. So, peaking is something that hopefully we do peak at the right time in the play-in – if we get there.”
BRIEFLY: Irving (torn left ACL), P.J. Washington (illness), Dante Exum (left hand fracture) and Olivier-Maxence Prosper (right wrist sprain) were the Mavs players who sat out Wednesday’s game. But the Mavs did have center Dereck Lively II back for the first time after he missed 36 games with a stress fracture in his right ankle. “It’s a good thing for us to get healthy,” coach Jason Kidd said. “Being on minute restrictions, we’ll take it. They can play. As we talked about in the past, guys can go back and have a healthy experience. We’re trying to win every game. We understand where we stand, but also health is important too, because if we don’t have that, then this thing ends soon.” . . . Once center Daniel Gafford returned on Monday and was joined on Wednesday by center Dereck Lively II, one of them could now be tag-teamed on the front line alongside Anthony Davis. And that big front wall presents a lot of problems for a lot of teams. “Yeah, there’s a number of teams right now that are bigger, whether it’s Cleveland, Milwaukee — Miami’s playing big,” Atlanta coach Quin Snyder said. “And (the Mavs are) deep, too. It’s not just the two guys that are on the floor. It’s the guys they play with.” . . . Former Mavs guard Dennis Smith Jr. sat courtside at Wednesday’s game. Smith was the ninth overall pick of the 2017 NBA Draft by the Mavs and played seven seasons in the NBA before playing earlier this year for Real Madrid.
X: @DwainPrice
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