Kyrie is a fantastic talent. I've seen him outplay Steph Curry head to head in several big games through the years. Curry is my favorite player in the NBA right now, so that's saying a lot coming from me.
However, the term "mercurial" is too kind for him. He's a knucklehead, masquerading as a "free thinker". He's not a scumbag on the level of Antonio Brown...he's just a knucklehead. I'm sure at some point in his life, him and Kanye West will pool their resources together to form some sort of a media conglomerate superteam of knuckleheads.
He might help the Mavericks short term, and maybe even get them a couple rounds into the playoffs this season. I think he's a big game player, unlike his briefly former team-mate James Harden...but they'd be silly to give him a max contract.
He's going to be super useful whenever Luca has to take a break, nurse an injury or miss a game. The depth he provides at the Guard position will be fantastic for the Mavs. I'm skeptical how he's going to actually share the court with Luca though. A lot of their skill sets overlap. He's never liked being the number 2 guy.
He begged out of Cleveland, because HE wanted to be Lebron somewhere else, he never fit in, in Boston, and he was an absolute nightmare in New Jersey, AFTER they threw a boatload of money at him.
I don't know how you give a guy a max contract, when you know he's going to make himself unavailable, or go his own way, whenever the wind blows a different way for him...but Mark Cuban fancies himself a players owner and an armchair psychologist, so maybe he's deluded himself into thinking he can control Kyrie and his instincts.
And lastly...........who knew the super team of Kyrie, Durant and James Harden, wasn't going to work out for the Nets.
Even Harden, whose playing style I seriously dislike, but who at least shows up for work everyday and can be a legitimate difference maker, knew this was going to be an untenable situation, and got himself out of there as quickly as Kyrie could say "The Earth Is Flat".