Could Lakers Sign & Trade For Mavs' Kyrie Irving While Paying Max Contract?

The Los Angeles Lakers are a consistently linked potential landing spot for Kyrie Irving ahead of his NBA free agency. Can they get him on a max deal?

The Dallas Mavericks made the move to acquire Kyrie Irving from the Brooklyn Nets ahead of the Feb. 9 midseason trade deadline. The deal involved Dorian Finney-Smith, Spencer Dinwiddie, a 2029 first-round pick, and multiple second-round picks in exchange for Irving. 

The trade didn't propel the Mavs as they went 8-12 during the 20 games they played since Irving made his debut. The defense proved to be untenable without a rim protector, impactful on-ball options, and now legitimate game-changing talent to set the tone on a nightly basis. A natural lack of chemistry costed them some close games, but defensively, they allowed teams to hang around too often without getting timely stops. 

The potential for a team with a backcourt consisting of Luka Doncic and Irving is intriguing, but it will take a genuinely competent supporting cast in order to achieve the level of desired success. With limited assets and spending mechanisms, can the Mavs pull it off? Right now, they cannot afford to entertain an alternative scenario based on the presently available information. 

One team that naturally gets raised as a potential suitor for Irving is the Los Angeles Lakers. There is a lot left still for them to play out during their first-round series against the Memphis Grizzlies, let alone during a potential playoff run. So far, D'Angelo Russell has strongly underachieved, while complementary talents like Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves have continued to make a strong impact. With many impending free agents to solve for, adding a third superstar would be a highly challenging feat to pull off. 

When breaking down the free agency landscape from a far out vantage point like late-April, there is a lot that can change around the NBA. For example, right now, it's unclear how far the Lakers could go on their playoff run. They hold a 2-1 series lead over the Grizzlies entering Monday's Game 4.

The top storyline surrounding the Mavs in the short-term will be the NBA Lottery. With the 10th best odds of landing the top overall pick with a top-10 protected selection, there is a wide range of possibilities for Dallas. The least likely of outcomes is they become the team that selects Victor Wembenyama using their pick. However, there is still over a 20 percent chance they outright lose the pick.

Beyond the need for ping pong balls serving as a major determining factor in the Mavs' outlook, they must find effective uses of their available spending mechanisms, whether Irving is re-signed or not. The current projection for the 2023-24 salary cap is $134 million, which is $10.4 million higher than what it's set for in 2022-23. There would be a $162 million tax level, each of those are $1 million higher than previous projections, per Shams Charania's reporting from September. Not many teams would have the financial outlook to sign Irving to a max contract without the help of a sign-and-trade.

For the Lakers to pay Irving a 2023-24 projected max salary of roughly $47.6 million in addition to the $46.9 million owed to LeBron James and $40.6 million that Anthony Davis is set to be paid, it would already set them just under $141.6 million in spending. Given the need to still field a balanced 15-man roster, it would likely require Irving to be willing to take less money.

An idea like the Lakers paying Irving a max contract are negatively impacted by the developments from the latest version of the CBA that continue to trickle out. It'll be made more challenging for the NBA's highest spenders to make roster changes in an attempt to deter teams from having such a robust payroll.

Could the Lakers Trade All Signed Supporting Cast Players?

Since the Lakers would be operating well above the salary cap, they'd need to satisfy closer than the 70 percent minimum threshold for salary matching to execute a trade. Even if they aggregated the contracts of Malik Beasley ($16.5 million), Mo Bamba ($10.3 million), and Jarred Vanderbilt ($4.7 million), it would fall short of meeting the 70 percent mark if Irving is set at a max salary. 

Based on the numbers we have to work with for the cap projections for the 2023-24 season, even if the Lakers included Max Christie's $1.7 million salary, it would still just barely place them below matching 70 percent of a max salary for Irving by aggregating his contract, along with Beasley, Bamba, and Vanderbilt in the same trade package. However, as a team that would be exceeding the salary cap, the salary matching figure would need to be close to what Irving's actual first-year salary would be on his new contract.

Even for the sake of a hypothetical, the only other contract signed to a player beyond James and Davis that could be added as a fifth player to such a trade construction is Shaquille Harrison. He is signed to a non-guaranteed $2.4 million salary for next season. However, he cannot be traded until July 9.  

Keep in mind, the Lakers would be trading every single player on their roster outside of James and Davis while already being well above the salary cap. Having to renounce cap holds for key players along with trading away the rest of their supporting cast doesn't seem feasible, to say the least. Especially when considering Russell, Reaves, and Hachimura would be included in such a procedure, preventing them from being re-signed.

All of these complications are examples of why it was important for whichever team wants to sign Irving to a new contract to have acquired his Bird rights at last year's trade deadline. The Mavs would still need to balance out their roster, but they can simply exceed the salary cap to re-sign him. 

Lakers' Potential Trade Avenues Are Complicated

The other key mechanisms the Lakers would theoretically have would be to include Russell in a double sign-and-trade deal. Before even getting into this hypothetical scenario, there are so many layers to unpack. Firstly, the Mavs and Russell would need to share mutual interest in each other. Otherwise, there is zero outlook for such a scenario. 

There is no doubt that Irving is a better player than Russell, particularly when a team needs a dynamic contribution from the backcourt during a playoff run. However, it would need to be possible for the Lakers to balance executing a sign-and-trade with retaining some of their top complementary pieces, and still be able to fill out a full roster. 

In terms of any particular trade package involving Russell, a lot would depend on the actual contract he'd receive. There'd be a considerable disparity in 2023-24 salary for Irving and Russell, requiring the Lakers to include additional players in part of any deal to make the financial aspect work. There would also be the matter of compensating the Mavs to actually desire to cooperate. 

The next option would be to simply trade Davis for Irving. Would the Lakers want to trade Davis if it was required for them to acquire the superstar guard? Keep in mind, Davis is the anchor of the Lakers' defense and they'd still need to overcome their new outlook in maintaining a competent supporting cast. The Mavs would also have to be interested in such a swap.

The Mavs need a defensive anchor and Davis would undoubtedly be just that. Again, the Lakers would have to want to facilitate such a trade and considering his importance, the outlook doesn't appear to be present. Again, the outlook continues to point toward Irving likely needing to take a substantial pay cut in order for the Lakers to reasonably acquire him.

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