Mavericks promote familiar figure to Kyrie Irving

Feb 8, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (2) controls the ball against the Los Angeles Clippers during the second half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Kyrie Irving might be pretty pleased about the Dallas Mavericks’ latest front office move.

Shams Charania of The Athletic reports Friday that the Mavs are promoting Matt Riccardi to assistant general manager. Riccardi, a native of the Dallas area, had previously been serving as their senior director of pro personnel.

The promotion is especially significant because of Riccardi’s past. Riccardi was with the Brooklyn Nets organization for 13 years and was a part of the regime that brought Irving to town in 2019. Subsequently, Riccardi left for the Mavericks front office in 2022 … and was a part of the regime that acquired Irving at last season’s trade deadline.

Granted, Riccardi has a reputation as one of the hardest workers in the business and deserves the promotion on his own merits. But it may also be another sign that Dallas is fully committed to making it work with Irving, whom they re-signed to a three-year, $126 million contract (with some interesting incentives) earlier this offseason.