Keon Ellis calls Kyrie Irving the toughest player to guard

“A guy like [Jalen] Brunson or [Steph] Curry, [Damian Lillard], you have to be in their airspace because any little bit of room, it’s going up, and we know how those guys can get it going,” Ellis continued. “But Kyrie, he can shoot it from 3, but he can also get to his spot in the mid-range. He’ll do something that you ain’t ever seen. You’ll think you have him, and he’ll just throw something up with the left hand, and it’ll hit nothing but net.” -via NBC Sports Bay Area / September 5, 2024

Mark Cuban believes the Dallas Mavericks can make things “easier” for Klay Thompson during the 2024-25 season. Thompson, 34, often ran off screens in order to get open shots with the Golden State Warriors. This recipe for success worked during Thompson’s prime but he is now in his mid-30’s and has dealt with injury trouble in recent seasons. Cuban believes the Mavs’ plan for Thompson will help the former Warriors star. “And then obviously a the big addition was Klay,” Cuban said on The Roommates Podcast, via NBACentral. “Just somebody that you have to face-guard, who is going to, you know, make 40 percent (of his three-point shots)… At Golden State, he had to always be on the move. They had that motion offense where he was always coming off screens and running. You know, we don’t do that, or not nearly as much. “Sure, we will run some of that action for him. But just standing in the corner… Standing in the wings and just catch and shoot from Luka (Doncic) and Kai (Kyrie Irving). Hopefully his life is going to be a lot easier.” -via Clutch Points / August 30, 2024

Mark Cuban on trusting Nico Harrison’s recommendation of Kyrie Irving: “Nico’s like, ‘He’s a good dude, man,’ and I would talk to people around him, and every single human being that I talked to that played with him was in the same organization as him, all said, ‘He’s a great dude, just misunderstood, and if you just respect who he is, he’ll respect you back.’ And I was like, that’s easy to do.” -via YouTube / August 30, 2024

Sean Cunningham: Keon Ellis in street clothes for this afternoon’s Summer League game vs. Wizards. His summer duties have concluded. Adonis Arms has also left the squad. pic.twitter.com/guDt0rtQjI -via Twitter @SeanCunningham / July 18, 2024

StatMuse: Keon Ellis today: 29 PTS 6 AST 2 STL 4 BLK 5-10 3P a little bit of everything pic.twitter.com/Y2x52THbmK -via Twitter @statmuse / July 17, 2024