One NBA writer thinks it’s “imperative” that the Dallas Mavericks re-sign All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving this offseason in free agency.
Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report has urged the Mavs to bring Irving back despite the team not even qualifying for the play-in tournament this year.
“The Dallas Mavericks took a real gamble when they sent out a first-round draft pick as part of a trade to land someone who’d enter unrestricted free agency the following summer,” Bailey wrote. “If Kyrie Irving walks, the Mavs will be out a rotation player (Spencer Dinwiddie), their best perimeter defender (Dorian Finney-Smith), the aforementioned first and multiple second-round picks for nothing.
“Yes, Kyrie was good (probably even great) for the few months he was a Maverick, but he hasn’t even been in the playoffs with them. Re-signing him is imperative.”
NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Kyrie Irving, Luka Doncic & Dallas Mavericks Updates
Irving averaged 27.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists in 20 games with the Mavericks in 2022-23. Even though the Mavs didn’t qualify for the play-in tournament despite having Irving and Luka Doncic, Dallas would like to bring Irving back.
“I hear he’s going back to Dallas on a 3+1 [a player option on the fourth year]. His contract will line up [identically] with Luka’s,” one player agent told Bleacher Report’s Eric Pincus.
NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Kyrie Irving, Luka Doncic & Dallas Mavericks Updates
If the NBA operates under a $134 million salary cap, Irving would be eligible to re-sign with the Mavericks on a five-year, $272 million max contract. According to NBA insider Marc Stein, Irving has “consistently expressed a desire” to remain with Dallas.
“Yet two sources close to the process insisted Monday that Irving has consistently expressed a desire to remain a Maverick and actually wants to shut down the notion that he’s angling to get to L.A.,” Stein wrote. “‘He wants to stay,’ said one source. The clear signals Monday out of Dallas suggest that the Mavericks believe that. With or without a LeBron James reunion.”
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