DALLAS (AP) The first preseason together for Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving will include long flights overseas and a herky-jerky schedule with fewer games than usual for the Dallas Mavericks.

They'll take that over the rushed effort for the All-Star pairing to click last season after the blockbuster trade, which went bust when the Mavericks faded late and missed the playoffs a year after reaching the Western Conference finals.

“It was so quick last year,” Irving said. “There was so much pressure on us to win now, win big. ‘It’s Luka and Kyrie. Why can’t you guys win games?’ So we were answering a lot of questions that honestly I don’t think we were ready for.”