The Dallas Mavericks will finally have Kyrie Irving available for the upcoming season. Basketball purists have been waiting well over a year for their beloved Uncle Drew to return to the court.
Well, if we may, he’s baaack!
The Mavs have expressed nothing but excitement about getting to watch Irving share the court with reigning Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg. The Mavs have rejected incoming trade interest for Irving since June, reports NBA journalist Marc Stein, and view Irving as a guiding hand for the young Flagg.
But Stein also noted that there are plenty of teams around the league that don’t believe Irving will remain a Mav for much longer. Former Lakers guard Danny Green believes that Irving’s Dallas stint may be coming to an end soon.
“Kyrie is not gonna be here all season. Kyrie ain’t gonna be here,” Green said.
The Mavs’ new-look front office led by Masai Ujiri wants to keep Irving. However, his contract runs out after the 2027-28 season with a player option. Any value he can fetch would have to be this time.
Lakers’ Potential Interest in Kyrie Irving May Be Ignited
Irving is set to earn $39.5 million next season. He still has multiple years remaining on his deal. The Lakers, obviously, are not in the position to absorb the kind of money Irving will make next season, but perhaps things will change in the near future. Between Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and new center Walker Kessler, L.A. already has a major chunk of its payroll tied to three players.
On the flip side, the chances of Dallas and L.A. doing business again after that Doncic deal may be slim. The Mavs may not be willing to give out another star guard to a fellow West team, much less the Lakers.
Irving’s Fit in L.A.
Doncic and Reaves aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, at least not with the former locked in as the face of the franchise and the latter recently having signed a lucrative contract. The idea would be to create a three-headed offensive monster with Irving in the fold, but the machinations behind a deal for Irving would be complicated.
“And with Luka, again, I don’t know. He gave Austin that bag,” Green said. “It’s a chip. I mean, anybody could use (Irving) to win a chip. That’d be a lot. Again, that’s back to the three-headed (monster). Everybody, those guys need the ball, with Austin, Luka and (Irving).”
Would there be a world in which the Lakers trot out a three-guard lineup of Doncic, Reaves and Irving? (Cue the jokes and the crying face emojis!) Yes, that is a tough picture defensively, but (and now cue group B!) who is going to stop three elite scorers?
Irving and Doncic are already an established tandem. Together, they captained the Mavs to the 2024 NBA Finals through a gauntlet of a Western Conference playoff bracket. Surely they could do it again … this time in that timeless purple-and-gold.
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