{"id":146757,"date":"2025-06-24T23:24:17","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T03:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=146757"},"modified":"2025-06-24T23:24:17","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T03:24:17","slug":"mavs-119-million-commitment-kyrie-irving-hall-of-famer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/06\/24\/mavs-119-million-commitment-kyrie-irving-hall-of-famer\/","title":{"rendered":"Mavs Make $119 Million Commitment To Hall Of Famer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Dallas Mavericks and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/i\/irvinky01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyrie Irving<\/a> have agreed to a new long-term contract, with the future Hall of Fame guard set to earn $119 million over the next three seasons, per ESPN&#8217;s Shams Charania (h\/t SportsCenter on X).<\/p>\n<h2>Mavs Make $119 Million Commitment To Hall Of Famer<\/h2>\n<p>Dallas&#8217;s deal has long been expected, with Irving <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/06\/05\/kyrie-irvings-personal-growth-leads-to-familiar-tale\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">flipping the script on narratives<\/a> that haunted him once being traded to the Mavericks. In addition to that, trading <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/doncilu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luka Doncic<\/a> left Irving as the only star guard. Those optics and the pressure it placed on the organization lent itself to expectations <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/08\/kyrie-irving-injury-contract-decision\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">they would reach a rich deal<\/a> with Irving.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Kyrie and the Mavs commit to each other long term as he rehabilitates a torn ACL \ud83d\udcb0<\/p>\n<p>(via <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@ShamsCharania<\/a>) <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ilOKwpY3iB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/ilOKwpY3iB<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SportsCenter\/status\/1937683545897463835?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 25, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, Irving <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/10\/kyrie-irving-kevin-durant-reflects-acl-injury\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">tore his ACL<\/a> not long after Dallas dismissed Doncic.<\/p>\n<p>This didn&#8217;t just leave their fan base further dismayed, it had a tangible effect on Irving&#8217;s value. The nine-time All-Star is often regarded as <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/18\/nba-damian-lillard-kyrie-irving-most-skilled-ever-game-winner\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">the most skilled player<\/a> in NBA history. However, the ramifications of an ACL injury could affect his acceleration, especially at his age.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, only time will truly tell how he bounces back. Nonetheless, there&#8217;s no question of why Irving&#8217;s deal isn&#8217;t as lucrative as it otherwise would have been. In fact, with this new contract, Irving is set to earn $39.7 million annually. That&#8217;s a lower figure than the salary ($44 million) he&#8217;ll be opting out of for the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n<h3>Safety Net<\/h3>\n<p>With Irving projected to be <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/04\/16\/mavericks-kyrie-irving-injury-return-news\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">out until January<\/a>, the Mavericks have been exploring stop-gap solutions, if not safety nets. Again, nobody will know how he looks when he gets back until it happens. If Irving manages to make an ACL injury look like a knee sprain though, it behooves the Mavericks to acquire a player who could play alongside him. With that being said, Dallas&#8217;s supposed targets have <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/05\/26\/mavs-offseason-replace-kyrie-irving-jrue-holiday-lonzo-ball-chris-paul\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">mostly been starting-caliber players<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/holidjr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jrue Holiday<\/a>, who the Boston Celtics have <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/06\/24\/celtics-trade-jrue-holiday-for-38-1-3-point-flamethrower\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">just traded to<\/a> the Portland Trail Blazers. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/paulch01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chris Paul<\/a>, who&#8217;ll be a free agent after a successful season with the San Antonio Spurs. Utah Jazz guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sextoco01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Collin Sexton<\/a>, who&#8217;s on <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/06\/18\/jazz-mavs-discussed-collin-sexton-trade\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">an expiring contract<\/a>. At his best, Chicago Bulls guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/balllo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lonzo Ball<\/a> excels as a starter as well.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_146763\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-146763\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-146763\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/06\/USATSI_24860382_168404789_lowres-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/06\/USATSI_24860382_168404789_lowres-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/06\/USATSI_24860382_168404789_lowres-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/06\/USATSI_24860382_168404789_lowres-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/06\/USATSI_24860382_168404789_lowres-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/06\/USATSI_24860382_168404789_lowres-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/06\/USATSI_24860382_168404789_lowres-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/06\/USATSI_24860382_168404789_lowres.jpg 2031w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-146763\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nov 26, 2024; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; San Antonio Spurs guard Chris Paul (3) and Utah Jazz guard Collin Sexton (2) after the game at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Creveling-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Among those players, Holiday and Paul have the best reputations. Holiday is a two-time NBA champion and two-time NBA All-Star whose defense has been highly touted. Paul, a 12-time All-Star, is the definition of a traditional point guard. However, due to their age, there&#8217;s a level of concern about durability and decline.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of injuries, Ball has only played 70 games over the past four seasons. On the flip side, he&#8217;s a principled and high IQ point guard. With his size and catch-and-shoot ability, he&#8217;s actually capable of playing multiple positions. Sexton&#8217;s the youngest of the quartet and plays with the boundless energy of a little brother at that. Nevertheless, he&#8217;s long been one of the league&#8217;s better scorers.<\/p>\n<div class=\"modal-image-setImageMetadata\">\n<p class=\"ng-binding\">\u00a9 Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Dallas Mavericks and Kyrie Irving have agreed to a new long-term contract, with the future Hall of Fame guard set to earn $119 million over the next three seasons, per ESPN&#8217;s Shams Charania (h\/t SportsCenter on X). Mavs Make $119 Million Commitment To Hall Of Famer Dallas&#8217;s deal has long been expected, with Irving [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":146764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30,1608,5,8,2,62,3,23,34,4721,24],"tags":[229,1594,239,406,667,297,4774],"class_list":["post-146757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mavericks","category-basketball","category-celtics","category-bulls","category-featured","category-nba","category-news","category-trailblazers","category-spurs","category-trade-rumors","category-jazz","tag-chris-paul","tag-collin-sexton","tag-jrue-holiday","tag-kyrie-irving","tag-lonzo-ball","tag-nba-free-agency","tag-rumors"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146757"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146765,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146757\/revisions\/146765"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}