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Kyrie Irving Traded To Dallas Mavericks

This is one of the strangest trades we’ve ever seen

By JD King
/ new
NBA: Brooklyn Nets at Dallas Mavericks
 May 6, 2021; Dallas, Texas, USA; Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving (11) hugs Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) after the game at American Airlines Center. 
Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Former Blue Devil Kyrie Irving is out of Brooklyn: the Nets are sending him to Dallas for Dorian Finney-Smith, Spencer Dinwiddie, a 2029 first round pick (unprotected) and second-round picks in 2027 and 2029.

The Mavericks also get Markieff Morris.

Irving reportedly wanted to go to the Lakers where he would reunite with Cleveland teammate LeBron James, but first, Nets owner Joe Tsai was probably not in the mood to give Irving what he wanted and second, the Lakers allegedly had concerns about Irving’s professionalism and his record of missing games.

The most surprising part of this whole business is this: Dallas has apparently not offered to sign him after the season when he’ll be an unrestricted free agent.

How weird is that? You trade for an All-Star, give up some serious assets, and you’re not even sure you want to keep him? Dorian Finney-Smith is a very useful player and Dinwiddie is averaging 17.7 points, 3.1 boards and 5.3 rebounds. Toss in a first-round draft pick, not to mentions two second rounders you’re giving up, and you really have to wonder how they approached this. Obviously they have a strategy and a plan, but what are they? On first glance, it really seems dodgy. Plus, given the box that Irving put Brooklyn in, you’d think that any trade partner would be very hard-nosed. Assuming LA was indeed ruled out by Tsai, Brooklyn had even less leverage.

If Dallas decides to not try to re-sign him, that’s probably on Irving. He’s a tremendous talent, but he’s now left three teams after bitter splits and though we can’t say for sure about Brooklyn yet, only Boston has survived the Kyrie divorce relatively unscathed.

The Dallas paper is not very excited about the trade, as you’ll see below, and the general consensus is that both Irving and Dallas star Luka Doncic may have trouble co-existing since both need the ball a lot to be effective.

However, if Irving is only there for two months, it’s not a big deal. But again, that doesn't make much sense.

And consider this: if Dallas can’t re-sign him or chooses not to, what does that do to Irving’s market value?

All in all, it’s a very strange trade and we won’t fully understand it for a while yet.

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