Many eyebrows were raised when the Dallas Mavericks chose Dusty May to replace Jason Kidd in June 2026.
The 49-year-old has never coached or played in the NBA before, which is why giving him the job seemed like a big gamble at the time.
The opening-night defeat to the Rockets raised further questions, but since then, May’s Mavs have won four of their five games.
That has earned him the respect of many, and behind the scenes, it looks like he has everyone on board, including Kyrie Irving.
Kyrie Irving sheds light on Dusty May’s coaching methods
Irving is one of the best players in the NBA, and he has been in the game for a long time.
The 34-year-old has worked with a few excellent coaches as well over the years, so he knows what to expect at this level.
However, in May, he found a coach who had no NBA experience before. Yet, Irving has nothing but good things to say about him.
After the win over the Rockets in the NBA Cup, he said, as per Abby Jones: “I’ll keep it short because I don’t want any of these other coaches around the league to get jealous. He’s a great guy.
'Very confrontational': Kyrie Irving shares what
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“I’m not trying to give away all his sauce. He’s a great guy, in terms of being able to identify what type of skill sets he has on his team. He’s done that very early.
“He’s very confrontational, in terms of what he wants out of you. I think it helps establish our concepts, what we need to do game-to-game and preparation-wise.
“He’s a big preparation guy, which I appreciate as well.”
That is huge praise coming from a superstar like Irving, and you can see his tactics work already with the veteran alongside young Cooper Flagg running the show.
There is still a long way to go in this season, so we can’t judge May just yet. But it has to be said that the early signs are really positive.
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