Kyrie Irving officially signed his new contract with the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday, with the two sides coming to an agreement for a reported three years and $119 million after he opted out of his player option worth roughly $43 million. The deal lowered the Mavericks' cap hit enough for them to sign D'Angelo Russell, who will help the team stay competitive while Irving recovers from a torn ACL.
A expected, the third year of the deal has a player option, making the contract very similar to the one he signed two years ago to stay in Dallas, just for a fraction less. However, some new details about the contract have come out.
READ MORE: Dallas Mavericks’ Cooper Flagg set to make NBA history with Lakers’ Bronny James
Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (11) controls the ball as Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard
Mar 1, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (11) controls the ball as Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard (0) defends during the first half at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images
NBA insider Marc Stein has revealed that Irving's contract is officially for $118.5 million, has a trade kicker of 15%, and has advance payments that will give him half of each season's salary on October 1st. That is all on top of the player option for the third season.
A trade kicker advances a player's salary by the agreed-upon percentage in the event they are traded. This actually happened with Anthony Davis when he was traded to the Mavs, but he declined his trade kicker to help make the money match in the trade and the team's financial situation. That one detail, especially with how fast he declined the kicker, made people question if he knew about the Luka Doncic trade ahead of time or not, despite the reports saying otherwise.
Irving is locked in for the next two seasons, at worst, before that player option in the 2027-28 season. A lot of teams are managing their books to have a lot of cap space available in the 2026 and 2027 offseasons, and that may be Irving's last chance to cash in on a big deal if he comes back strong from his ACL surgery.
READ MORE: Ex-Mavericks standout receives disappointing contract update
Stick with MavericksGameday for more FREE coverage of the Dallas Mavericks throughout the offseason
Follow MavericksGameday on Twitter and Austin Veazey on Twitter