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7 hours ago
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Kyrie Irving would arguably be the hottest name on the free agency market had he not gotten injured and torn his ACL, but things happen. As a result, Irving will likely be impacted by that in his next contract.
The Dallas Mavericks need to keep him around, however. Even if he misses some of the 2025-26 campaign, which is expected, the hope is for him to return sometime later in the year.
Knee injuries are tricky, but Irving, one of the top players in the NBA, should be able to bounce back from it. If he's healthy and on the court, the Mavericks have a legitimate chance to win a championship.
He understands that, and there's also contract value that comes along with it.
The Athletic recently attempted to predict his next deal, suggesting that he could take a two-year deal worth $25 million each, totaling $50 million.
“BORD$ sees Irving being worth nearly the same amount as his player option for the coming year ($43.96 million), but BORD$ doesn’t know that Irving tore his ACL and is likely to miss most of the season. Because of that, and the Mavs’ tricky tax and apron situation for the coming season, it’s possible that Dallas agrees to a deal where Irving opts out and re-signs at a lower number for more years.
“The most interesting way to do that would be for him to sign a two-year deal with a player option at a lower number (say, two years at $25 million each), and opt out of the deal next summer to re-sign in Dallas with Bird rights,” they wrote.
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The knee injury makes things very tricky here, as Irving likely would’ve signed a massive deal had he not gotten injured.
After averaging 24.7 points and shooting 47.3% from the field and 40.1% from 3-point range, there's no debate that he still has plenty left in the tank.
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