Free Agency Rumor: Mavs, Kyrie Irving Have ‘Handshake Deal’ for Max Contact

While the national media continues to try to push Kyrie Irving to the Los Angeles Lakers this offseason, one report says he already has a handshake deal in place with the Dallas Mavericks.

Dalton Trigg | May 22, 2023

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Dallas Mavericks

Heading into an offseason that came much sooner than anyone in the organization expected, the Dallas Mavericks proclaimed that re-signing star guard Kyrie Irving was their top priority. Given that the Mavs gave up two starters and an unprotected 2029 first-round pick to acquire Irving at this year's trade deadline, that makes a lot of sense, but that logic hasn't stopped the national media from trying to push him to the Los Angeles Lakers this summer.

However, one report from Bleacher Report's Eric Pincus, who used to work at ESPN, feels more realistic than anything else we've heard about Irving and the Mavs so far.

"I hear they had a handshake deal before the trade [with the Brooklyn Nets]. And Kyrie wouldn't have said yes to anything less than the max," one source told Pincus.

Said another player agent, according to Pincus: "I hear he's going back to Dallas on a 3+1 [a player option on the fourth year]. His contract will line up [identically] with Luka's."

On today’s episode of the Mavs Step Back Podcast, we discuss the conflicting reports about Irving’s future in Dallas, and why Pincus’ latest makes the most sense based on the league’s new CBA. We also talk about how the conference finals have been a lot of fun despite both series being lopsided at 3-0.

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Published May 22, 2023

DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.