Mavs Have 'A Lot Of Advantages' to Re-Sign Kyrie Irving, Says NBA Insider
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DALLAS — The top offseason priority for the Dallas Mavericks is to re-sign Kyrie Irving, who played out the final season of his contract after being traded midseason. After averaging 27.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 5.3 assists in 60 games played, he is set to reach free agency later this summer.
Along with James Harden, Irving is among the NBA's top available free agents this offseason — making him a significant focus in speculation. During an appearance on "The Rich Eisen Show," ESPN's Brian Windhorst spoke about the latest regarding Irving's free agency outlook.
"I think he intends to try to sign a gigantic contract with somebody and I think that team very well could be Dallas as much as we look elsewhere," Windhorst said. "I think Dallas has a lot of advantages. ... The Nets after having Kyrie for several years, were just unwilling to give him the kind of long-term offer he wanted, and that's the challenge."
When evaluating a potential contract for Irving, Windhorst explained that the initial single-season salary isn't the concern. The complication that a front office may encounter is when negotiating the length of a contract. For any sign-and-trade to occur, the NBA requires a deal to involve three or more years.
"I don't think the annual money is the issue with Kyrie. I think Kyrie is absolutely worth a single season maximum salary," Windhorst said. "But if you give Kyrie a three or four year deal based on his track record, that's a tough position to ask."
A team that has been commonly speculated as a possible landing spot for Irving — the Los Angeles Lakers — was a topic of discussion in the segment. Windhorst highlighted the difficulty associated with the possibility of acquiring Irving related to the impact it'll have on depleting the supporting cast. The messaging from Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka during media exit interviews was to favor continuity.
"[The Lakers] have a number of players who have options in their contract and none of them are LeBron James or Anthony Davis, but they must decide whether they're going to keep Jarred Vanderbilt," Windhorst said. "They have to decide whether they're going to keep Malik Beasley. They have to decide whether they're going to keep Mo Bamba. Now, you may say, how could you talk about Mo Bamba when we're talking about Kyrie Irving? How could you say that? Who cares about that? Well, Rob Pelinka came out at the end of the season and said, 'We want to keep our young core together. We like the guys that we acquired in these trades, and we're going to keep them together.'"
"Now, that could be posturing. He's not on the witness stand saying that, but if they don't go out there and clear a bunch of cap room and they waive all these guys right before the start, free agency as they're required to do, then I think we have something that you're looking at," Windhorst explained.
The belief is that Irving is very likely to command the max salary he's eligible to earn at $47 million, which is nowhere near where the Lakers could get to with an offer. Instead, they could be limited to being in a range of $30-to-35 million — requiring Irving to take a sharp reduction in earnings.
"If they don't do that, then I think you're, I think it's a much harder road for Kyrie to have an option for the Lakers," Windhorst said. "His maximum salary is $47 million and I believe that he can get $47 million, maybe not for four years, but I believe he can get that."
"But the Lakers, even if they cleared all the decks, cut everybody that they could, they could only clear between $30M and $35M," Windhorst explained. "So any Kyrie Laker dream would probably mean Kyrie willing to take a pay cut. It's not gonna be apples to apples to what Dallas potentially can offer."
The Mavs will be authorized to discuss a contract with Irving after the conclusion of the NBA Finals as a result of a Collective Bargaining Agreement change.
Grant Afseth is a Dallas Mavericks reporter for DallasBasketball.com and an NBA reporter for NBA Analysis Network. He previously covered the Indiana Pacers and NBA for CNHI's Kokomo Tribune and various NBA teams for USA TODAY Sports Media Group. Follow him on Twitter (@grantafseth), Facebook (@grantgafseth), and YouTube (@grantafseth).
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