Dallas Basketball

Kyrie Irving Eyes $1 Million Contract Incentive; Dallas Mavs Can Clinch Division With Win vs. Miami Heat

Kyrie Irving can earn himself some money by playing vs. the Miami Heat, while the Dallas Mavericks can clinch the Southwest Division with a win.

Dalton Trigg

Mar 7, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (11).
Mar 7, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (11). / Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
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There's plenty on the line individually for Kyrie Irving and as a team for the Dallas Mavericks when they play the Miami Heat on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. CT.

For Irving, playing against the Heat would mark his 58th game played this season. With 58 games played, Irving would earn a $1 million incentive. The Mavs guard had a heel contusion that kept him out 12 games in December after center Dwight Powell fell on him on Dec. 8, and he also had a sprained right thumb that led to a six-game absence.

Mar 7, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (11).
Mar 7, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (11). / Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Irving has played in 30 straight games, his most since 2016. The Mavs have gone 23-7 in that stretch, while Irving has averaged 26.1 points, 5.1 assists and 5.0 rebounds in his 30 consecutive games played.

With a win against the Heat, Dallas (49-30) can clinch the Southwest Division. It currently leads the New Orleans Pelicans (47-32) by two games with three left in the regular season. If the Mavs lose to Miami, they could still clinch the division if New Orleans loses to the Sacramento Kings on Thursday.

Dallas has won 15 of its last 17 games, and that run started with a 114-108 win over the Heat on March 7 at the American Airlines Center. For the Mavs, clinching the division with a win against the team they began their turnaround against would bring what started as an up-and-down regular season full circle and further help set them up for a potentially deep playoff run.

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Dalton Trigg

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.

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