Kyrie Reportedly Wants LeBron to Join the Mavericks

By: Marselis Davis

A shocking report dropped from Shams Charina on Monday June 2. Mavericks’ star guard Kyrie Irving is seeking to recruit Lakers’ superstar LeBron James to the Mavericks. See the tweet here:

This is quite a surprising request from Irving. It had been known for a while that James wanted Irving to join the Lakers, but not that Irving wanted James on the Mavericks.

What This Shows

This request from Kyrie Irving could be a good sign for the Mavericks. Irving’s request shows that he has at least some desire to remain in Dallas for the foreseeable future. 

Given that most media speculations leaned towards a LeBron-Kyrie reunion on the LA Lakers, it would have been more expected that Irving would wait for a contract offer from the Lakers if he wanted to play with James. 

However, Irving’s desire actually swings in the opposite direction and could hint at his plan to accept a long-term contract with the Mavs. If the Mavericks also managed to acquire James, it would be insanely terrific for their franchise. It would allow the team to keep Irving and pair Luka Doncic with James and Irving to form a big three. This would instantly propel the Mavericks into conversations as title favorites.

Likelihood 

What is the likelihood of this pairing happening?

The answer: Not likely at all.

While the idea of James joining the Mavericks would be a dream come true for the city of Dallas, it is just not likely to happen. There are a few reasons for this. For starters, James is not a free agent. He still has at least one more guaranteed year on his two-year contract extension. Therefore, the Mavericks cannot simply offer James a contract this summer for him to join. The only way that the Mavericks could acquire James is to trade for him. 

This leads to another problem, which is that the Mavericks do not have the assets to acquire James. The Mavericks already gave up a handful of picks and depth to get Irving. James’ market value would be higher than Irving in which case the Mavericks would not have the tradable assets for a player of James’ caliber. Even if James was a free agent, the Mavericks would still have a hard time signing him. They would still need to offer Irving a contract as well alongside Doncic’s massive contract and the hefty contracts for some of their role players, such as Davis Bertans and Tim Hardaway Jr.. The Mavericks would have major salary cap issues if they sought to sign James to a new contract.

Time Will Tell

All hope is not lost though. LeBron James has quite a reputation for holding a massive amount of leverage over the franchises that he plays for. Even if the Lakers were not interested in a trade with Dallas, James could pressure LA’s front office to go through with a deal that they otherwise would not have. But even with James’ influence, the chances of the Mavericks and Lakers agreeing to a trade that sends James to Dallas are very slim. What Irving will do if this request is not granted remains a mystery. Then again, Irving is used to being mysterious.

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