Insider floats potential Kyrie Irving trade if Mavericks season spirals
· Yahoo Sports
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Despite the highly anticipated Dallas Mavericks tandem of Kyrie Irving and Cooper Flagg heading into the 2026-27 season, expect a trade market for the nine-time All-Star guard. Irving returned from a season-long ACL injury for a Mavericks preseason game against the Houston Rockets in China on Sunday. 19 months removed from tearing his left ACL, Kyrie finished with 17 points and three assists.
Between now and this season’s trade deadline, Irving is a name that will be mentioned as the Mavericks are expected to hear trade offers, according to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, per DLLS Sports.
“There’s a lot of intrigue around the league as far as whether, as we get close to the trade deadline, the Mavericks will be willing to entertain trade discussions for Kyrie [Irving],” MacMahon said. “It’s not because the Mavericks don’t love Kyrie, but the charge from Masai is to build a sustainable contender around Cooper Flagg. It’s a reasonable question to ask. Could a path toward that, or at least part of the path toward that, be capitalized on the value that Kyrie would have on the trade market?
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“There would be no shortage of interest in him. He’d certainly have some say if that situation were to arise. But on the flip side of that, just from a pure basketball perspective, Kyrie really does complement and enhance Cooper. Cooper, obviously, can play on the ball. You don’t want him to have the majority of those responsiblities. Kyrie can initiate the offense. Kyrie can play off of this ball. We’ve seen that with LeBron James, with Kevin Durant, with Luka Doncic; he thrives in that co-star type of role.”
In a competitive Western Conference, led by the defending champion San Antonio Spurs, and the 2025 champion Oklahoma City Thunder, along with the 2023 champion Denver Nuggets, among others, Kyrie Irving and the Mavericks will have their hands full. However, if they’re able to compete for a playoff spot, it’ll be a step in the right direction for such a young team in Dallas.
“Even if they’re competing for a Play-In spot down the stretch, I think there’s some real benefit for Cooper Flagg and younger players on the roster to be in those situations, to have those learning experiences, to grow in pressure situations,” MacMahon added. “So, we’ll see how it works out. But I certainly expect Kyrie to be an All-Star-caliber player within the season.”
The kind of offers for Irving will be intriguing between now and the trade deadline. With four months between now and then, how the Mavericks look throughout the first half of the regular season could ultimately determine Irving’s foreseeable future.
Related: Mavericks’ Cooper Flagg isn’t ‘blind’ anymore, and that’s a big problem for rest of NBA