DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks have turned away trade interest in Kyrie Irving since mid-June, Marc Stein of The Stein Line reported Aug. 24. Rival teams, Stein wrote, keep wondering whether Dallas will hold that position as the Feb. 11 trade deadline approaches.
Dallas went 26-56 last season with Irving sidelined for all of it. Cooper Flagg, the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, won Rookie of the Year.
“The primary factor fueling that curiosity, of course, is that fact that Irving is 34 and Mavericks star forward Cooper Flagg is 19,” Stein wrote. “Not your average age gap between the team’s two best players.”
The Miami Heat have come up as a possible Irving destination since Miami traded for Giannis Antetokounmpo in June. One three-team version of that idea would move four players and a first-round pick:
- Darius Garland would go from the LA Clippers to Dallas.
- Irving would go to Miami.
- Andrew Wiggins, Davion Mitchell, and the Los Angeles Lakers’ 2029 first-round pick would go to the Clippers.
Mavericks receive: Darius Garland, 2027 second-round pick (via Oklahoma City)
Heat receive: Kyrie Irving
Clippers receive: Andrew Wiggins, Davion Mitchell, 2029 first-round pick (via Lakers), 2027 second-round pick (via Miami)
Dallas Mavericks Grade For Trading Kyrie Irving And The 2029 Lakers Pick
Irving tore his left ACL on March 3, 2025, and did not play in 2025-26. He averaged 24.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.6 assists in 2024-25. In July 2025, he signed a three-year, $118.5 million contract that pays him $39.5 million this season. It includes a 15% trade kicker and a $42.4 million player option for 2027-28.
Garland turned 26 in January. The Clippers acquired him from the Cleveland Cavaliers on Feb. 4 in a one-for-one trade for James Harden. He is owed $42.2 million this season and $44.9 million in 2027-28, the final year of his deal.
In 2024-25, Garland made his second All-Star team and averaged 20.6 points and 6.7 assists in 75 games. He had surgery on his left big toe that June. Before the trade, he averaged 18.0 points and 6.9 assists in 26 games for Cleveland.
Dallas got the 2029 Lakers first, unprotected, in the February 2025 trade that sent Luka Dončić to Los Angeles. The Mavericks’ own firsts in 2027 and 2029 belong to other teams. Two teams hold swap rights with Dallas in 2028 and 2030.
The Mavericks drafted Morez Johnson Jr. ninth overall in June. They traded for Zaccharie Risacher, the No. 1 pick in 2024, on July 19. Dallas bought out Klay Thompson on Aug. 21, and he signed with Miami two days later.
Grade for Dallas: D. The Mavericks would send out Irving and the only first-round pick they hold before 2031 that no other team has a claim on. They would take back a guard who is owed $2.7 million more this season. He would also be owed $44.9 million guaranteed next season, the year Irving holds an option.
Miami Heat And LA Clippers Grades For The Kyrie Irving Framework
To get Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis, Miami sent the Milwaukee Bucks Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., and Kasparas Jakučionis. The Heat also gave up the No. 13 pick, their 2031 and 2033 firsts, a 2033 second, and a 2030 swap. The Heat are hard-capped at the first apron and sit $2.6 million below it.
Wiggins picked up his $30.2 million player option this summer. He then signed a two-year, $33.8 million extension that starts in 2027-28, and his cap hit drops to $16.5 million that season. Mitchell is in the final year of a two-year, $24 million deal and is making $12.4 million.
Miami would send out $42.6 million and take back Irving’s $39.5 million before any trade kicker. The Heat signed Thompson and Tim Hardaway Jr. with their mid-level exception this summer.
Grade for Miami: B. The Heat would add a nine-time All-Star to Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo without giving up a first-round pick.
On Sept. 2, the NBA ordered the Clippers to forfeit first-round picks in 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032, and 2033. The penalty followed the league’s investigation into salary cap circumvention involving Kawhi Leonard. The 2029 pick was the unprotected first the Clippers got from the Indiana Pacers in the Ivica Zubac trade. The league also fined the team $30 million and suspended owner Steve Ballmer for one year. Leonard was traded to the Toronto Raptors.
The Clippers drafted Illinois guard Keaton Wagler fifth overall in June. Under this framework, they would swap Garland’s $42.2 million for $42.6 million this season. Next season, they would carry Wiggins at $16.5 million instead of Garland at $44.9 million.
Grade for the Clippers: A-. Los Angeles would add an unprotected first and cut $28.4 million from its 2027-28 payroll.
