Just don’t expect Kyrie Irving to be one of the players transferred. Anthony Davis on the other hand…
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On his Howdy Partners podcastESPN’s Tim McMahon reiterated his and others’ previous reporting that Irving is off the table in trade talks with Dallas. Instead, the focus is likely on what the Mavericks can do for Anthony Davis.
“What I will tell you about Kyrie is that the Mavericks don’t want to trade him…
“While trading AD this offseason is a real possibility – and I would even say likely – trading Kyrie is not something that is on the Mavericks’ priority list, or it simply isn’t something they are interested in doing right now.”
Irving, who is still recovering from ACL surgery (but could return later this season), is on a reasonable contract ($35.6 million this season, $39.5 million guaranteed for next season, followed by a $42.4 million player option for 2027-28), which is reason for interest in him. Although this would likely take too much time, Godfather also offered the Mavericks a chance to consider it.
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Davis is a different story.
He’s ready to return to the court tonight against the Lakers After missing 14 games with a calf strain. Any serious discussion of a Davis trade should start with him being on the court through December and January, putting up big stats, and showing teams that he is still an All-Star, perhaps an All-NBA level player.
Dallas’ challenge in trading Davis is that there is a very limited market for his services – he is a 32-year-old (33 in March) with a history of serious injuries, is making $54.1 million this season, is guaranteed $58.5 million next season, and will demand a contract extension this summer.
Teams have been mentioned in Davis rumors – Chicago, Golden State, New York and Phoenix (though those last two are highly unlikely) – but even if they were interested, it’s almost impossible to actually construct a trade. AD’s massive salary and the fact that Dallas is right in front of the second-apron hard cap makes it incredibly challenging to actually put together a trade that works financially and makes sense for both parties. For example, to “win now” and make a trade for struggling Golden State work, the Warriors would have to send back either Jimmy Butler (straight up) or a trade package built around Draymond Green and Jonathan Kuminga, and neither of those make much sense for either side.
This isn’t going to stop the Davis rumors. Just know that people are not coming together this season regarding Kyrie.
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