Windhorst: Kyrie Irving Not Expected to Get Max Contract from Mavs, Lakers in FA
Kyrie Irving may have to change his plans if he assumed he would receive a max-contract offer this offseason as a free agent.
ESPN's Brian Windhorst discussed the point guard during an appearance on Wednesday's Pardon the Interruption and said he doesn't believe the Dallas Mavericks or other teams, such as the Los Angeles Lakers, will end up offering him a max deal.
"I don't think that the Mavericks intend to offer him a full max, the $47 million, which is where it's at," Windhorst said. "And I don't blame them for that, guys, because I'm not sure anybody else is going to either. The more Kyrie can make it look that the Lakers are interested, the better offer he can potentially draw from Dallas, so I think that's all part of the game."
It isn't difficult to connect Irving to the Lakers.
After all, he was in attendance for one of Los Angeles' playoff games and played alongside LeBron James with the Cleveland Cavaliers. In fact, Irving hit what proved to be the winning shot in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals as Cleveland stunned the 73-win Golden State Warriors.
The loss to the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals made it clear the Lakers need more help to accomplish the goal of winning the title, especially since James will turn 39 years old in December.
"If they really were to prioritize opening cap space, they could open about $30-35 million in space and still have AD, Lebron and [Austin] Reaves on the roster," Windhorst further explained. "That would still be a pretty big pay cut for Kyrie."
As for the Mavericks, it isn't a massive surprise they would be hesitant to offer Irving the max deal.
Dallas acquired him via trade from the Brooklyn Nets in February and went 8-12 in games he played. The late-season struggles completed a collapse that saw a team that was once expected to challenge for a title after reaching last season's Western Conference Finals miss the playoffs and play-in tournament entirely.
Things never really clicked for the Mavericks with Irving on the floor, although there is no doubting his talent.
The eight-time All-Star and three-time All-NBA selection is arguably the best ball-handler in the league, can take over games in crunch time, is a career 39.1 percent shooter from three-point range and can facilitate when double-teams come his way.
Yet there is more that comes with Irving, including concerns about his availability since the last time he even reached the 70-game mark in a season was 2016-17.
He missed significant time when he was with the Brooklyn Nets because he was unvaccinated against COVID-19 and then again when he was suspended for promoting an antisemitic movie on social media. The suspension came after he was unapologetic despite being given multiple opportunities to walk things back.
Irving will be one of the most notable free agents of the entire offseason, but it doesn't seem like there will be a max-offer bidding war for him at this point.
