Kyrie Irving is playing at an All-Star level this season with the Dallas Mavericks and there have been an absence off-court issues after several tumultuous seasons with the Brooklyn Nets.

Irving has felt respected and supported by the Mavericks.

"I had to be mature enough to say I got to take accountability for my own actions," Irving told ESPN. "I got to really walk and be the example that I want to see in the world. And that's just being a good person to a lot of people, and not being so hard to reach and not be so isolated to where people can misjudge that as whatever it is. Like, 'Oh, he doesn't talk, or he is not really close with anybody. I don't really know him that well.' So I feel like a lot of people misjudged me. ...

"Dallas gave me a chance to just focus on the main thing, which is being the best basketball player when I stepped foot here, and then off the court still support me."

Irving also has the utmost respect for Luka Doncic.

"He's a winner. I'm a winner," said Irving. "He's a big gamer. I'm a big gamer. We like going against the best. That's where I feel like we connect. ...

"At this point in his career, in my career, particularly talking about me and Luka, it's about how we galvanize the rest of the group. We help each other grow as people, and then the basketball part is the easy part. I needed mentors when I was growing up in the league, so I feel like that's the role I play here, being a very young mentor to Luka [and] to all our guys.

"Because I've seen a lot, I've done a lot. I failed at the highest level, I succeeded at the highest level, and I want to get back to that place."

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski suggested the NBA's goal of dispersing talent around the league under its new collective bargaining agreement is beginning to work as evidenced by the Indiana Pacers' trade for Pascal Siakam. 

The Golden State Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Clippers have been amongst the teams interested in trading for Siakam at various points over the past year.

"When the league put in this new salary cap and this second apron and this real limitation on the way big market teams could stockpile star players, you're starting to see how teams like Golden State or L.A., others... it's hard to have three stars in this league right now," said Adrian Wojnarowski. "The league's goal was to start spurting that talent around. That's part of the reason why Pascal Siakam lands with the Indiana Pacers."

Siakam will be a free agent this offseason and is widely expected to re-sign with the Pacers.

Wojnarowski believes the Warriors and Sixers were never seriously contenders to trade for Siakam. The Pacers had leverage in trade talks due to their possibility of having cap space this offseason and could pursue Siakam then as well.

The Denver Nuggets have rebounded from their somewhat uneven start to their title defense and now rank fourth in the NBA in Net Rating at +5.6 points per 100 possessions.

NBA Net Rating (Week 11):
1. Celtics: 10.9
2. Sixers: 8.3
3. Thunder: 7.5
4. Nuggets: 5.6
5. Wolves: 5.4
6. Clippers: 5.1
7. Bucks: 4.7
8. Pelicans: 4.2
9. Knicks: 3.4
10. Rockets: 2.6
11. Pacers: 2.6
12. Mavericks: 2.2
13. Magic: 1.9
14. Cavaliers: 1.7
15. Suns: 1.6
16. Heat: 0.9
17. Warriors: 0.2
18. Kings: -0.2
19. Raptors: -0.7
20. Lakers: -1.1
21. Hawks: -1.5
22. Nets: -1.7
23. Bulls: -2.5
24. Jazz: -4.1
25. Grizzlies: -5.6
26. Blazers: -7.4
27. Wizards: -10.6
28. Hornets: -10.7
29. Pistons: -11.0
30. Spurs: -11.1

Joel Embiid continues to rank first in the NBA in PER with a mark of 33.8, ahead of Nikola Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at 31.1.

NBA PER (Week 11)
1. Joel Embiid: 33.8
2. Nikola Jokic: 31.1
3. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 31.1
4. Giannis Antetokounmpo: 29.9
5. Luka Doncic: 27.7
6. Tyrese Haliburton: 26.3
7. Anthony Davis: 25.6
8. Kevin Durant: 23.9
9. LeBron James: 23.5
10. Kawhi Leonard: 23.1
11. Kristaps Porzingis: 22.7
12. Alperen Sengun: 22.7
13. Lauri Markkanen: 22.5
14. Kyrie Irving: 22.2
15. Zion Williamson: 22.2
16. Domantas Sabonis: 22.2
17. Mark Williams: 22.1
18. Donovan Mitchell: 21.9
19. Jarrett Allen: 21.8
20. Trae Young: 21.8

The Oklahoma City Thunder have the NBA's third best net rating and fourth best record in the league. They appear ahead of schedule, but are not interested in discussing whether they are already championship contenders.

"It says that we're really playing together and we're prioritizing winning over anything else," Chet Holmgren said following Oklahoma City's win over the Boston Celtics. "But as far as long term, it doesn't really prove anything, I guess you could say, or it doesn't kind of satisfy anybody.

"We know we have a long ways to go. We're at 32 games into the season, so we still have 50 games left. We got a lot of lessons to learn, a lot of lessons we've already learned from that we've got to kind of keep in the back of our mind."

"I think we all stay in the moment and I think that's why we've been able to get better," Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. "We just stay in the moment, attack the day, attack the program in front of us. Then we all have the right intentions and want to win at the end of the day."

RJ Barrett signed a four-year, $107 million contract extension with the New York Knicks in August 2022 amid Donovan Mitchell trade rumors and was dealt instead to the Toronto Raptors shortly before the start of 2024 in a package for OG Anunoby. 

"I'm going to tentatively... I'm not going to plant a flag, but I've always said if there's a continuum of RJ Barrett optimism and pessimism and over here on the pessimistic side is like 'He just stinks. He's a toxic asset.' That is a word that got thrown out yesterday in my conversations with front office people and coaches. Toxic asset. Like you're swallowing his contract," said Zach Lowe on his podcast.

"To, on the other end, future All-Star RJ Barrett. I'm like in the 68th percentile toward positive. Maybe the 73rd percentile toward positive. I think RJ Barrett has a chance to be a good NBA player. And, in fact, has been for large stretches of his career."

Lowe went on to praise Barrett for his versatility.