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Kyrie Irving’s future with the Dallas Mavericks is up in the air. The star point guard’s contract expires on July 1, making him an unrestricted free agent. Despite the uncertainty, the Mavericks organization is hoping that he’ll be back for another deal.
Head coach Jason Kidd recently opened up on Irving’s impending free agency, during an appearance on Showtime’s “Headliners.”
“I think he truly is happy here. I think he wants to be here,” Kidd told Rachel Nichols. “But that doesn’t guarantee us that he’s going to stay. He has the option and the opportunity as a professional to look elsewhere, because he is a free agent, and I don’t want to take that away from him, being a player who was in that situation. We’re going to do everything to keep him. At the end of the day it’s his decision, but we believe we’ll see what that is, but we hope that we’ve done everything to make him comfortable, and want to be a Mavs for life.”
Dallas landed Irving ahead of the trade deadline in a blockbuster deal with the Brooklyn Nets, understanding the risk of him jumping ship in the summer.
Since arriving in the Big D, Irving has averaged 27.0 points, 6.0 assists, and 5.0 rebounds over 20 games. He’s been able to score efficiently, knocking down 51.0% of his attempts from the field and 39.2% from beyond the arc.
Kyrie Irving Is Popular With Mavericks Teammates
Kidd’s explanation of the organization’s efforts to retain Irving echo that of what an anonymous NBA general manager told Heavy Sports’ Sean Deveney.
The executive explained that the team likes the 31-year-old and wants him to stick around.
“I think they want Kyrie and they like Kyrie, but what I can tell you is that Luka, who wasn’t against the trade, just like so many young players today, doesn’t want to share,” said the source. “Kyrie was on great behavior — like he was doing everything to try to win over Luka and be a teammate. Every single player on that team and everyone in the organization loves Kyrie from his time there so far.”
Mavericks’ Valuation of Kyrie Irving Uncertain.
Despite Irving’s “great behavior” there’s still some skepticism to what the front office will actually offer him when it’s time to negotiate. The source explained that the difficulty that Uncle Drew had sharing the ball with Luka Doncic, specifically in clutch time, could cause them to hold back a bit.
“I do think there’s some skepticism going forward for what they’re going to offer him. Like they’re not completely naïve. But Kyrie’s behavior was excellent. It was more the fact that Luka had to adjust to playing with such a great player. Everyone there has been saying Kyrie is incredible, and that’s in private, too. Luka’s said it and he means it. But I think that he just doesn’t want to share. He just doesn’t know how. He’s out there on the court and the ball has been in his hands; no matter what, it’s his ball. And now there’s actually consideration that I might need to pass the ball to somebody else and let them do the magic, instead of me just waiting for the clock to run down and shoot a step-back 3 from the hash mark.”
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