Woj: Kyrie Irving 'More Likely Than Not' to Sign New Mavericks Contract in Offseason
The Dallas Mavericks gave up quite a bit to land Kyrie Irving, trading Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, a 2029 first-round pick and two second-round picks.
The risk is that Irving will be a free agent this summer and could end up being only a temporary rental. But ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski speculated during Tuesday's Get Up that Irving would stay with the Mavericks after the 2022-23 season (10:30 mark):
"I think it's more likely than not Kyrie Irving stays in Dallas just because of what they invested in him. And his chance to get the kind of contract he wants—for all the reasons they traded for him, they were at a shortage of talent around Luka Dončić; hopefully this thing goes well enough, it's never going to be perfect with Kyrie Irving—but given what they gave up and Dallas' track record of being willing to pay players who want to be there, I think it's more likely than not Kyrie Irving is in Dallas."
Woj added that the Mavs obviously would push heavily to keep Irving, though the preference likely would be on a short-term deal.
"They didn't give that up for Kyrie Irving to be a rental for them," he said. "I think it's going to be a negotiation. They'll probably want to get Kyrie Irving on as short of a deal as they can. You keep leverage as an organization and you keep trade value if he's on a shorter deal and things go awry. But certainly, they're all invested in making this work."
There's no doubt that Irving's past will play a factor. Thus far on the court, however, Irving and Dončić have more than coexisted, with the new Dallas point guard averaging 28.3 points and 7.0 assists in four games. The Mavericks are 2-2 in those contests, though the two losses were an overtime defeat to the Sacramento Kings and a three-point loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Both the Kings and Wolves are currently top-eight teams in the Western Conference.
The biggest issue in the Dončić era has been the lack of a true second star, with perhaps Kristaps Porziņģis coming the closest. Irving more than addresses a prior lack of star power.
The long-term question is whether the issues of Irving's past—promoting an antisemitic film on his social media platforms and his subsequent suspension for failing to initially apologize, and his decision to remain unvaccinated and miss Brooklyn Nets' home games due to New York City's mandates during the 2021-22 season, among other incidents—will ultimately rear its head in Dallas.
And, of course, whether Dončić can adjust to playing with another star who is also comfortable running the offense.
Irving, to his credit, has coexisted on the court in the past with ball-dominant players like LeBron James, James Harden and Kevin Durant, and mostly done so successfully. But Dončić will need to recalibrate certain aspects of his game.
The Mavericks will be hoping that's a long-term process, not just an adjustment for a few months.
