Kyrie Irving arrived in Big D back in February of 2023. The Dallas Mavericks made what some considered to be a risky trade at the time, having lost their 2029 First Round Pick (no protections) amongst other assets for a player who only months prior was suspended by the Brooklyn Nets after a controversial post on X (then Twitter). Although his first half-season with the Mavs yielded an underwhelming result, things clicked in a big way in his first full season with the team, where he helped the Mavs return to the NBA Finals. In the Offseason prior to that Finals run, the Mavs re-upped Irving on a three-year deal worth $126 million. That deal held a player option in the final year, which brings us to today.
After Irving suffered a significant injury on March 3rd, which required surgery later that month, the logical conclusion was that he would pick up his option while rehabbing. $44 million in a year that would be optimistically truncated until at least January seems too good to pass up, unless of course there was a better deal to be had. We later reported that he may get an extension from the Mavericks and now Kevin Gray reiterates that notion.
“[Kyrie] Irving holds a $44 million player option for next season that he must activate or decline by June 24. There have been rumbles all season that the Mavericks, either using that option as the starting point for an extension or based on an entirely new deal, have been hoping…
— Kevin Gray Jr. (@KevinGraySports) May 24, 2025
As Gray states, Irving needs to make the decision to either pick up or decline his player option by June 24th. The Mavs appear intent on keeping Irving in Dallas long term, and all signs indicate Irving likes the idea. Not only is it inherently smart to secure long-term money while rehabbing from a serious injury, but Irving has spoken favorably of Dallas almost from day one. He has even gone as far as saying he wished he had been drafted by the Mavericks in the first place. Add to that nothing but positive feedback from his teammates, and Irving’s continued stint in Dallas begins to look like an inevitability. The notion that Mavs’ GM Nico Harrison may not sit idle, but rather lock Irving up regardless of his injury, shows the level of commitment they have to their star guard.
If Irving commits to, and plays out, another three seasons in Dallas, he will all but match the longest tenure of his career (six seasons in Cleveland). Not only that, but such a deal would suddenly propel Irving into being one of the longest tenured Mavericks in history. Astonishingly, the Mavs have fewer than twenty players all time who have played more than six seasons with the franchise. A deal of this nature would also find Irving at age 35 when it expires. It’s too far a reach to accurately speculate now, but depending what happens at that point, we could be talking about Irving retiring in a Dallas uniform. Before we get way too ahead of ourselves, we’ll pull back to the immediate reality that Irving may be prolonging his stay in Dallas within the month. Given Harrison’s commitment to his current stars and his apparent “win now” mentality for the team, an extension for Irving makes a great deal of sense. He has performed very well both on and off the court while serving as a mentor to younger players like Jaden Hardy. With fellow Duke standout Cooper Flagg likely to be his teammate, Irving will again be well positioned to help a young player acclimate to NBA life. Question marks still remain in respect of his health, but with generally favorable post-surgery updates, Irving re-upping in Dallas should be a good thing for the franchise within their immediate window of contention.
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