All-Star guard Kyrie Irving has declined his $43 million player option with the Mavericks and will instead sign a three-year, $119 million deal to stay in Dallas, according to a report from ESPN on Tuesday.
Irving, 33, is expected to miss the entirety of the 2025-26 NBA regular season after suffering a season-ending ACL injury in March. Irving averaged 24.7 points per game last season while shooting 40.1% from the 3-point line.
The Mavericks, owners of the No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA Draft, finished the 2024-25 season as the No. 10 seed.
Irving won an NBA Championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016, and helped the Mavericks to an NBA Finals appearance in 2024, so he’s worthy of this type of money. But this three-year contract is a bet on Irving’s ability to rehab his knee injury and return to his pre-injury form. If he does, he’ll headline a Mavericks’ core led by Anthony Davis.
It’s the second longer-term deal of the offseason for the Mavericks, who retained center Daniel Gafford on a three-year, $54 million contract on Monday.
Irving is the first domino in a row of veterans, including LeBron James and James Harden among others, to make a decision regarding their player option with the deadline set for June 30.
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