New Kyrie Irving Trade Rumors on NBA Teams 'Monitoring' Star's Status with Mavs After Kidd Exit

The Dallas Mavericks have undergone quite the transformation already this offseason by hiring Masai Ujiri as the new team president and parting ways with head coach Jason Kidd, and teams around the league reportedly believe they may look to trade Kyrie Irving.

During a Wednesday appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, ESPN's Shams Charania reported "multiple contenders" are "monitoring" the Irving situation in Dallas since it was a previous regime that brought the point guard to the team.

Trading Irving would be yet another step in moving past former iterations of the team with Mark Cuban no longer the Mavericks' primary governor, the firing of former general manager Nico Harrison and the infamous trade that sent Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Dallas also traded Anthony Davis to the Washington Wizards this past season.

Irving is 34 years old and not exactly on the same timeline as franchise cornerstone Cooper Flagg, so there is an argument to be made that landing significant draft capital and young players in a potential deal would help accelerate the rebuild around the Rookie of the Year.

Dallas was an ugly 26-56 this season despite Flagg's individual brilliance with Irving sidelined by injury and Davis in and out of the lineup before he was traded. 

It has plenty of ground to make up in a Western Conference that is loaded with contenders such as the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs, and that ground likely won't be made up just by Irving returning to the lineup and playing alongside Flagg.

With that in mind, a focus on the future could lead to a trade of the veteran point guard.

And there are surely plenty of contenders that would love to add Irving to their backcourt even if he didn't play during the 2025-26 campaign.

The future Hall of Famer's resume includes a championship, a Rookie of the Year, three All-NBA selections and nine All-Star nods. He hit one of the most famous shots in NBA history as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals win over the Golden State Warriors and also helped lead the Mavericks to the 2024 NBA Finals.

He may not be capable of guiding a team to a deep playoff run at this point of his career, but a role as a No. 2 option for a contender like he had alongside Dončić in 2024 could suit him well.