The Dallas Mavericks They know that the pressure to put together a strong team around Luka Doncic starts to rise. Although they have the Slovenian with contract for another three yearsthey must quickly leave behind bitter pill 2022-2023in which they didn’t even qualify for the Western Conference Play-In.
From Luka’s arrival in the NBA, it was clear that the young man would become the person of the franchise and that the key would pass through the formation of the roster at his side and above all to find one second figure ideal application with the European one. They tried me Kristaps Porzingisit didn’t work and they took it in February the dangerous route Kyrie Irvingwith its positives and negatives.
On the plus side, clearly, is Irving’s performance on the court. In 20 games with Dallas he had an average 27 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, 51% from the field and 39% from three. Statistics do not record 100% of a player’s impact, but similar numbers, especially when efficiency is considered, are not easily achieved.
Luka and Kyrie as a duo
The settlement with Lukas was also positive. They shared 900 possessions and while they struggled defensively, scoring a poor 117.1 points per 100 possessions, they were real machine on offense: rating 121.7. To put this number in context, Mystery kings He came to best score ever of the NBA in that 2022-2023 with 119.4 points.
Dallas, with Kyrie and Luka, was two points above that record. And even with the defensive weakness it reached a balance +4.6 pretty solid for a team full of holes at the rest of the positions.
Of course there are downsides. And no minors. Irving has proven to be a player very unstable in his later years and completely unpredictableboth in his sports career and in different confrontations away from NBA courts.
Is he the ideal personality to move forward with Doncic? away from it. The problem is, the Mavericks were on the wall after the February trade: Do they renew Irving or start the project over, with no logical path to add another star in the near term. They don’t have the young players or big picks to lure another franchise in a star trade, and they don’t have the cap space to sign big names in free agency.
If they lose Irving, they’ll have to deal with 2023-2024 Tim Hardaway Jr., Josh Green, Jaden Hardy and – in case of renewal – Christian Wood and Dwight Powell as the most prominent additions around Doncic, aside from some free agents they can sign with their midfielder (there is talk of Bruce Brown, For example). An alignment that, as a ceiling, seems to have the simple fact fight for a spot in the playoffs. In the best case.
What contract can the Dallas Mavericks offer Kyrie Irving?
The most value the Mavericks can offer Irving is a salary contract 47.6 million for next seasonwhich could be extended for five years and a final amount close to 275 million.
No way should Dallas offer this contract to Kyrie. Because of the lack of credibility shown by Irving but, more importantly, because of him little competition you will probably be in the market for numbers like this.
In fact, None of the other 29 franchises can offer a contract longer than four years for Irving, so that should be the ceiling of Dallas’ offer initially. The cap available to another team is a contract for four years and about 205 million in total. Any spending above that number by Dallas would seem like a very questionable decision. Although even this offer may be too much, considering all of the above.
The ideal scenario for the Mavs? Retained Kyrie to a three-year deal, between $130 million and $140 million totalprobably with the last campaign without guarantee. Unlikely, but ideal.
Soon, Irving and Doncic have shown they can run an elite offense. if you succeed to surround them better in defense, Dallas should be a highly competitive team in 2023-2024. But of course, without this bet representing the full mortgage of the future and 275 million on a player who left so many episodes for doubt and criticism.
