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A trade involving Kyrie Irving is not currently expected before February’s deadline, The Athletic’s Sam Amick reported. Neither Irving nor the Dallas Mavericks has shown interest in a split, according to Amick.
HoopsWire relayed that reporting Nov. 14 in a story by Sam Amico. It noted that rival executives view Irving as the player who could most change the playoff race if he became available. Irving also holds a $42 million player option for the season after this one, per the same report. Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley suggested Detroit pursue Irving, identifying Ron Holland II, possible inclusion of Ebuka Okorie and draft compensation as hypothetical.
Kyrie Irving Addresses Outside Noise In Dallas Mavericks Locker Room
Irving spoke about the outside noise after scoring 35 points in a 125-122 win over the Indiana Pacers on Nov. 9 at American Airlines Center. He started with the doubts that followed Dallas into the season.
“I think we heard a lot of the noise before the season and some of the predictions,” Irving said.
From there, Irving turned to the trade rumors about himself and said he had raised them with teammates directly.
“And I let the team know out of my own mouth that these trade rumors, anything that’s going on with me, do not let this infiltrate our locker room,” Irving said. “Don’t let this get in the way of what we have building here.”
“We have a lot of depth. We have a lot of youth, and we should use that to our advantage,” Irving continued. “But we should not allow any external distractions or any external voices that don’t support us unconditionally or want to see us do well to infiltrate our locker room.”
Ten Mavericks played against Indiana. Irving had averaged 29.5 minutes over his first eight games, his first stretch back from the left ACL tear he suffered March 3, 2025, against the Sacramento Kings.
“So, yeah, you’re seeing us play ten guys, eleven guys at times, and my past few years, especially before I got injured, I was averaging like forty some odd minutes, and it’s just night and day in terms of me being able to go out there and play my best brand of basketball because we have depth and we have guys that are willing to swing the ball,” Irving said.
“And it’s not that we didn’t have it before,” Irving continued. “I’m just saying in terms of just group development and the newness of it, it’s not a lot of selfish basketball that goes on.”
Dusty May Explains How Irving And Cooper Flagg Split Play Calls
Irving and Cooper Flagg combined for 78 points against Indiana, with Flagg scoring a season-high 43. Mavericks coach Dusty May, in his first season in Dallas, said the staff will sometimes pick between them out of a timeout based on which one is facing the tougher defender.
“It’s a unique deal where coming out of a timeout, we may draw up a play for one of them just because the other one might have an all-league defender, or whatever the case, and they never roll their eyes,” May said.
“They know when we’re going to one of the two,” May continued. “The other one’s very supportive because they have that much respect for each other. And they’re both just such good guys and great teammates.”
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