Kyrie Irving’s return to full health has stirred plenty of excitement around the NBA, but Jeff Teague took the conversation in a bolder direction: what if Irving were built like Michael Jordan?
Teague, the 2021 NBA champion with the Milwaukee Bucks, argued on the Club 520 podcast that a 6-foot-6 version of Irving would be better than Jordan. Irving is listed at 6-foot-2, so Teague’s version adds four inches to the Mavericks guard’s frame.
“It’s nothing he can't do. Bro, what could he not do?
What can he not do, bro?” Teague said.
“Name me something he can't do. He's not scared of the moment, if he was 6'6" it's no weakness in his game.”
The idea is rooted in offense. Teague is pointing to Irving’s ball-handling, footwork, and scoring touch, the stuff that makes him such a nightmare when he’s healthy. In Teague’s view, giving that package more size would erase the biggest flaw in Irving’s profile.
At 6-foot-2, Irving has never been known as a top-tier defender or rebounder, which is a pretty standard tradeoff for a smaller guard. Teague’s point is that a taller Irving would no longer carry that limitation.
Irving’s actual resume is a different conversation entirely. Jordan’s needs no building up: six championships, six Finals MVPs, and five regular-season MVPs as the greatest two-way player basketball has ever seen.
Irving, meanwhile, has one title, which came with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016. His career averages sit at 23.7 points, 5.6 assists, and 4.1 rebounds.
This wasn’t Teague making a direct career comparison so much as tossing out a pure hypothetical about how dangerous Irving’s game would look on a bigger body. Still, with Irving finally healthy again after missing the entire 2025-26 season while recovering from the torn ACL he suffered in March 2025, the clip has quickly become a talking point across NBA circles. Dallas confirmed this offseason that he is fully recovered and ready to join Cooper Flagg in a Mavericks uniform for the first time.
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