In Kyrie Irving, the Dallas Mavericks saw an opportunity the organization couldn't pass on. 

It was a trade that brought with it criticism, and some of it was warranted after the Mavericks stumbled out of the gate with Irving and never found solid footing before choosing to tank the final two games of the season to improve their chances at keeping their top-10 protected draft selection. 

The latest criticism comes in the form of an ex-Dallas Mavericks consultant, who thinks the trade fundamentally made no sense when it was executive. The executive in question is Haralabos Voulgaris, the former data analytics researcher who was coined the "shadow" general manager in the summer of 2021. 

"Did I think it would've gone off the rails this bad? No," Voulgaris said on The Bill Simmons Podcast on Tuesday. "I don't think that that trade was something that was going to benefit their season."

Voulgaris is on record as regarding the trade for Irving as a "risky" move. 

"He's Kyrie Irving and he's got a record of being a little acentric, at best," Voulgaris said. "It's such a risky move."

The rationale for the move not working, as Voulgaris explained it, was the ball dominance both players possess. One of Irving or Doncic needed the ball in their hands to be an effective playmaker. Neither really excels at creating shots off the ball. The end result was an offense that didn't lack firepower, but it lacked the correct means of utilizing its players to their full potential. 

"It's just very difficult to have two players who are at their best with the ball and then expect them to be good together," Voulgaris said. "You're just not maximizing their talent.

"Why would you want to have your second-highest-paid player be another guy who's good with the ball? It doesn't make sense to me but that's just me personally. I wouldn't have done it." 

Still, it is hard to assign blame to Dallas' blunders. Irving was a good locker room leader, who was popular among all the players. 

Doncic is on the record at the end of the season saying Irving was a good guy who "just wants peace." That is to be expected after the four years he spent in Brooklyn, where it appeared to be one misstep after another. 

In Dallas, Irving has reportedly found a group of people that accept him for who he is and, as Theo Pinson indicated at the end of the season, that is all he wanted. 

But as for Voulgaris, it is still a move he wouldn't have made. In his mind, with Irving's talent, it still wasn't worth the risk. 

"He hasn't been a distraction with the Mavericks at all. That much is clear. Has not been a distraction" Voulgaris said. "I think if anything, he's been additive in terms of the culture so far. That's everything I've heard and seen."

Now, it comes down to who the Mavericks add around Irving and Doncic if the team plans to take legitimate steps forward in the 2023-24 season. 

In his exit interview general manager Nico Harrison admitted that defense and rebounding are the two priorities that must be addressed. It was a familiar speech to the one at the end of the 2022 season in which Dallas was searching for a big man to replace Dwight Powell in the starting lineup. 

There is plenty riding on this summer for Dallas. And part of that starts with validating the move for Irving and building around its star duo long-term.