Colin Cowherd believes Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving's pairing 'doesn't work'

With the NBA playoffs beginning this weekend, Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic will be watching from the comforts of their homes as their Dallas Mavericks were unable to secure a spot even in the play-in tournament.

On "The Herd with Colin Cowherd," Cowherd talked about Irving's future with Dallas as he becomes a free agent this coming summer.

"If stuff works, double down," Cowherd said. "If it doesn't, get out of it. I appreciate the Mavericks' big swing on Kyrie, but it doesn't work."

From Cowherd's perspective, the Kyrie Irving experiment was a failure. Owner Mark Cuban and the organization traded Dorian Finney-Smith, Spencer Dinwiddie and a 2029 first-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets to acquire the eight-time All-Star.

In early February, the Dallas Mavericks were fourth in the Western Conference before making the Irving trade. Since then, they have struggled to play to their potential as they finished the season in disappointing fashion (38-44). The Mavs went 7-18 in the final two months. In contrast, last season, they reached the Western Conference finals against the Golden State Warriors.

Although Dallas still had a shot at the play-in tournament, the team decided to sit out its stars in order to land a high draft pick and possibly get Victor Wembanyama in the 2023 NBA draft.

When it comes to a free-agency decision regarding Kyrie Irving's future with the Mavericks, Mark Cuban feels confident in re-signing him.

"I want him to stay for sure, and I think we have a good shot," Cuban said. "I think he's happy here. He tells me he's happy here. All I can tell you is everything I thought I knew about Kyrie because of everything I read is 100 percent wrong."

Whether Kyrie Irving is worth the contract extension that he's looking for is yet to be determined, given his history regarding long-term commitments with past teams. It will be interesting to see how things develop for the Mavericks in the offseason.

Kyrie Irving situation compared to Kevin Durant situation

The two former Brooklyn Nets teammates departed and went their separate ways as both were unable to reach championship expectations in four seasons.

While Dallas' acquired Irving, the Phoenix Suns made a similar move by trading away huge depth pieces. Phoenix gave up Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson and Jae Crowder along with four unprotected future first-round picks for Kevin Durant.

However, the differences are clear as the Suns still have Devin Booker, Chris Paul, Deandre Ayton, Damian Lee, Josh Okogie and Cameron Payne. This is a much deeper roster compared to the Mavericks' Luka Doncic, Tim Hardaway Jr., Christian Wood, Reggie Bullock, Josh Green, Dwight Powell and Maxi Kleber.

Furthermore, Kyrie Irving is considered to be one of the greatest scorers to have played in the NBA, but he's not Kevin Durant. Compared to the Mavericks' roster since acquiring Irving, the Suns have gone 8-0 in games that Durant has played. Kevin Durant is such an elite basketball player that he makes up for Bridges, Johnson and Crowder's absence.

Be that as it may, Irving has done what he was acquired to do in the first place, averaging 27.1 points per game on 49.4% shooting, 5.5 assists and 5.1 rebounds. The Mavericks' biggest concerns were their depth and their subpar defense as they ranked 25th at a 116.1 rating.