Kyrie Irving Reportedly Waived Trade Kicker to Facilitate Celtics Deal

Kyrie Irving reportedly walked away from some major cash to facilitate Tuesday's blockbuster trade to the Boston Celtics. 

According to ESPN.com's Dave McMenamin, Irving waived his 15 percent trade kicker, which would have paid him an additional $5.8 million, to clear the way for a deal that sent him to the Celtics in exchange for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, the Brooklyn Nets' 2018 first-round pick and Ante Zizic. 

With the trade kicker out of the picture, Irving will earn $18.9 million next season and $20.1 million during the 2018-19 campaign. He also owns a $21.3 million player option for the 2019-20 season. 

But based on the way high-profile free agents have conducted business in recent years, Irving will likely decline that option and seek a max contract sooner rather than later. 

Also of note: By virtue of Tuesday's trade, Irving is no longer eligible for the NBA's supermax, which the likes of John Wall and James Harden have signed. 

According to the terms of the NBA's new collective bargaining agreement, Irving doesn't qualify for the supermax because he's no longer with the team that drafted him. In order to be eligible for a supermax, players "must have been named to an All-NBA team in the previous season or two of the previous three, or either be an MVP or Defensive Player of the Year in any of the previous three seasons," as RealGM's Christopher Reina noted in December.

Nonetheless, Irving remains in line for a max contract whenever he hits the open market. And based on the way Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge gushed about him in Tuesday's press release announcing the trade, it won't be surprising if that offer comes from Boston. 

"Kyrie is one of the best scorers in the NBA. He has proven that on the biggest stage, the NBA Finals, the last three years," Ainge said. "He's been an NBA champion, an Olympic gold medalist, and a four-time All-Star. For all he's accomplished, we think his best years are ahead of him."

Contract information courtesy of Spotrac.com unless noted otherwise.