Evaluating Nets-Mavericks Trade Involving All-Star Kyrie Irving
The NBA trade deadline is full of surprises every single season and this year, everything has been shaken up with Kyrie Irving being traded.
When Irving requested a trade from the Brooklyn Nets on Friday, speculation around the league began and nobody really knew what the Nets would ultimately do, but then they ended up agreeing to a trade with the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.
The now eight time All-Star is heading to Dallas, along with veteran forward Markieff Morris, in a trade that gives Brooklyn Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, two second-round picks in 2027 and 2029, as well as a 2029 first-round pick that is unprotected.
So much went into this trade for Brooklyn, as several teams around the league were showing interest in Kyrie Irving.
According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, both the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns both offered intriguing packages to the Nets in exchange for Irving.
Los Angeles reportedly offered All-Star Russell Westbrook and two first-round picks (2027 and 2029) for Kyrie Irving, but the Nets apparently wanted more value with Los Angeles potentially surrendering first-round pick swaps, Austin Reaves and recent second-round pick Max Christie. The Lakers did not want to give up all of this, as they were unsure of Irving’s long-term commitment.
As for the Suns, Charania stated that they offered not only veteran forward Jae Crowder and a first-round pick, but veteran All-Star guard Chris Paul as well. It is believed that three first-round picks from Phoenix could have resulted in Irving going to the Suns, but this was never something the Suns were willing to offer up.
Kyrie Irving now finds himself as a member of the Dallas Mavericks, an organization that has high hopes of contending for a title.
Already having one of the favorites for this season’s MVP award in Luka Doncic, the Mavericks have one of the league’s best “one-two punches” on the offensive-end of the floor.
Losing Dinwiddie and Finney-Smith though breaks up a solid amount of production from the core of this team, leading many to believe that the Mavericks may not be done making moves just yet.
Christian Wood remains in the final year of his contract with no extension from Dallas in sight, making him a player the team could look to move in order to capitalize on value at the trade deadline, and Tim Hardaway Jr. continues to be a veteran player brought up in trade discussions around the league.
It is hard to imagine that the Mavericks’ only move at the deadline will be bringing in Kyrie Irving, just like it is hard to believe that the Nets are done making moves as well.
Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith are both players who could be utilized for the Nets right away, but both players could also be moved in another deal for Brooklyn to acquire another high-level talent next to Kevin Durant.
Brooklyn is leaving all of their options open at the moment and their main goal is to surround Durant with a championship-worthy team right now. Currently 4.5 games out of first-place in the Eastern Conference, the Nets are currently still in the championship race despite trading Kyrie Irving.
Who the Nets could potentially target heading towards Thursday’s trade deadline is up-in-the-air at this point, but SNY’s Ian Begley recently reported that the team has been in contact with the Toronto Raptors, a team that many around the league anticipate moving one of their stars in Fred VanVleet or Pascal Siakam, and/or one of their core players in O.G. Anunoby and Gary Trent Jr.
John Collins from the Atlanta Hawks is another player the Nets have shown a level of trade interest in before and it would not be surprising to see general manager Sean Marks and Brooklyn’s front-office inquire about the availability of DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine from the Chicago Bulls.
League personnel that have spoken with Fastbreak on FanNation recently have stated that the Bulls do not intend on trading DeRozan or LaVine at this trade deadline, but the Nets do seem willing to give up any assets other than Durant to make a big move.
Brooklyn has options following this Kyrie Irving trade and the big elephant in the room for them is what they will ultimately decide to do with Ben Simmons, who still has two more years left on his contract past this season.
While it will be hard to do, it would not come as a shock to see the Nets trade Simmons in an attempt to gain more trade assets to make another big move ahead of Thursday.
Overall, this is really not a bad deal for either side.
The Mavericks get the second star that they have been needing next to Doncic in Irving, a player who can help them compete at the highest level on the floor right away, and the Nets get options to build around Durant with.
Some may say that the Nets could have gotten more for Kyrie Irving, but they made out just fine in this trade and have set themselves up to make another big move ahead of the trade deadline this week.
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