NBA All-Star Kyrie Irving is staying with the Dallas Mavericks. According to multiple reports, he is signing a three-year, $126 million contract with the Mavs. The new deal has a player option for Year 3.
Irving averaged 27.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists in 20 games with the Mavericks in 2022-23 after the Brooklyn Nets trade. Dallas owner Mark Cuban wanted to re-sign Irving once free agency opened. He didn’t want to lose Irving like he lost Jalen Brunson to the New York Knicks last summer.
“We want to sign him and hopefully he wants to come back,” Cuban said on The Ben and Skin Show. “I’m not going to handicap anymore. I learned my lesson last year.”
NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Kyrie Irving & Dallas Mavericks Updates
Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic and head coach Jason Kidd wanted Irving back. All those rumors about Uncle Drew meeting with the Miami Heat, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix Suns were false. Dallas, really, was the only team interested in Irving.
The Mavericks won just 38 games in 2022-23 despite having Doncic and Irving. They didn’t even qualify for the play-in tournament after making the Western Conference Finals last year. What was even more troubling was that Dallas was only 5-11 in games Doncic and Irving played together. That was the worst winning percentage (.313) for a pair of teammates who were both All-Stars since the ABA-NBA merger in 1976-77, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Kyrie Irving & Dallas Mavericks Updates
There will be a lot of pressure on Irving and Doncic to lead Dallas on a championship run next season. During his end-of-the-season press conference, Doncic told Mavericks reporters that he was “happy” in Dallas, but he also admitted that “something’s got to change.” The 2018-19 Rookie of the Year signed a five-year, $215.2 million designated rookie contract extension with the Mavericks in August 2021.
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