It might be time to tap the brakes on any Kyrie Irving to the Mavericks rumors.
With Irving and Kevin Durant seeking trades from the Brooklyn Nets, a report surfaced that Dallas was expected to heavily pursue Irving. As has been well-documented, Irving is coming off a chaotic campaign with the Nets, so he might not have the most robust market -- even though he remains a quality player and is on a max contract.
But, in theory, Irving to the Mavs makes some level of sense for the right price. However, ESPN NBA reporter Tim MacMahon said on the “Brian Windhorst and the Hoop Collective” podcast that he received a pretty firm denial of the rumor.
"I have heard that the Mavericks were kind of – I’ll say doing due diligence," MacMahon said (26:00 in player above). "I ran it by somebody who has some influence with the Mavericks and got a profane reply in shooting it down.”
Of course, that could just be posturing on that source’s part. Especially when there might not be much competition for Irving, coming out saying there’s interest would reduce the Mavericks’ negotiating leverage.
However, if there’s anything we learned about the Mavs from this past season, it’s that they seem to be building a pretty good thing. Losing Jalen Brunson to the Knicks certainly hurts, but trading for Irving in response would be a big gamble.
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