Dallas Mavericks 'confident' about the likelihood of Kyrie Irving's return next season
Trading for Kyrie Irving hasn’t worked out the way the Dallas Mavericks thought it would, but heading into a long summer, the organization is confident in the likelihood to re-sign him.
DALLAS — Theo Pinson, the locker room glue guy that saw the Dallas Mavericks overachieve last season, sauntered the podium following the 115-112 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Friday night, content with where things ended up.
An end-of-the-bench guy on this version of the Mavericks, Pinson was playing for a contract as much as he was trying to steal a win from the skeleton Bulls with an even more skeleton version of the Mavs to keep play-in hopes alive for one more day.
He fielded questions about the game, his performance, and the strangeness of playing NBA games when the outcome is somewhat meaningless. The Mavs were eliminated from the postseason following the loss. Then he was asked about Kyrie Irving, the five-year, $272 million question the Mavs must answer in free agency. He paused for a moment, rubbing his beard, smiled, and then, with a sense of candidness, opened up about, if Irving should return, the reasons why he'd want to stay. Most of Pinson's rationale and theorizing about Irving's pending free agency decision was based on the people around Irving, not necessarily the on-court product.
"He likes it here," Pinson said of Irving. "It’s more the people, you know. When you go through tough stretches like this, and situations like this, and you can come into the gym the next day and you have ‘Sham’ [assistant coach God Shammgod], Coach [Jason] Kidd, you have me, you have ‘Duds’ [assistant coach Jared Dudley], you have ‘KT’ [assistant coach Kristi Toliver] who he has known for a long time, and people who are basketball minds, and just everyday people. We have so many people in our locker room, coaching staff, that are just positive. We just come to work every day and just work. It makes it a whole lot easier.
"Even though it’s been tough, coming to work every day has been a joy also. My teammates are great also. Y’all come in and see us, you wouldn’t know we were in this position because we just thoroughly enjoy each other. I think that helps him [Kyrie] a lot, and that’s one thing that would help the Mavs pursue him this summer.”
Heading into the biggest offseason in the Luka Doncic era, the Mavs have far more unknowns than knowns. The top-10 pick they secured a chance at on Friday is still not a guarantee to convey. Doncic has grown exasperated with the circumstances, and in a recent report from ESPN could request a trade in the future.
Then there is Irving. The most unpredictable star in the NBA. When he arrived in Dallas, he asked that the contract discussions not become part of the everyday lexicon of questions he was contractually obligated to answer. That request was honored until the unknown couldn't be ignored.
Team owner, Mark Cuban, came out this week in defense of the Mavs' handling of the Jalen Brunson situation, framing it as a circumstance where family ties were thicker than organizational loyalty.
In that same media availability, he also mentioned that re-signing Irving would be the organization's top priority. In 2022, he said the same thing about Brunson.
Still, he didn't unequivocally commit to giving Irving the five-year $272-million contract he is reportedly seeking. Dallas does have Irving's bird rights, and the franchise can offer him more money than any other team in the NBA, but Irving is someone who marches to the beat of his drum. Money talks, but as Pinson explained, happiness speaks louder.
Kidd got in on the Irving speculation, as well, following the nail-in-coffin loss. He patted his folded arms and thought for a moment before giving an answer that sounded like a pitch and a plea.
"If I was a betting man, I guess I would say he would be back," Kidd said. "Why would I say he wouldn't? Cuban made it clear he is the number one priority to have him come back, so I would second that."
The reality is Dallas needs Irving back. If losing Brunson taught the organization anything, it's that a blank check ought to exist for a co-star next to Doncic. If it doesn't, there is a timeline where Irving walks, Dallas misses out on its draft pick, and whiffs in its attempts to lure free agents.
That timeline is the uncomfortable weight that everyone, from Cuban down, must feel.
Doncic is on a timeline himself. His loyalty is earned. Cuban admitted so. Now, maintaining that loyalty will be a difficult task.
If Friday night was a peak behind the curtain, Pinson and Kidd sound confident that Irving could make a home out of Dallas. But, if he does, the roster is still littered with twice as many questions than answers regarding a legitimate path forward.
"At the end of the day," Pinson said of the season, "we did all we could.”
