Kyrie Irving, point guard for the Brooklyn Nets, has reached an agreement to sign for Luka Doncic's Dallas Mavericks, according to the American
outlet The Athletic.
Irving himself, who has had a controversial time with the New York team, had requested the transfer before the closing of the NBA transfer market, set for February 9, seeing that negotiations for his renewal ran aground.
For those of Dallas, it is a luxury reinforcement that can help Doncic aspire to anything this season.
As part of the deal, which has not yet been made official, Dorian Finney Smith, a 29-year-old forward, and Spencer Dinwiddie, a point guard of the same age, will be traded from the Mavericks to the Nets, who will also receive various pick-up rights. players in future drafts.
Markieff Morris, 33-year-old power forward, accompanies Irving to Dallas.
The Nets were the only team to have two starters in this month's All-Star Game: Irving himself and Kevin Durant.
Now, that privilege passes to those of Dallas, a team that has been dependent to the extreme on Doncic.
Despite the fact that the Slovenian is having a great season, the Mavericks are only sixth in the Western Conference.
Doncic has conquered personal feats.
He went on a 10-game streak averaging over 40 points and in December he became the first NBA player to record 60 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists in a game.
Despite his average of 33.4 points, 8.9 rebounds and 8.1 assists per game, injuries to inside players have weighed down the team.
The big question is how Irving will adapt to the Mavericks (and how he will get along with Doncic).
His talent is beyond doubt.
He is averaging 27.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game this year and with him the Nets have climbed to fourth place in the Eastern Conference.
Irving, 30, has been selected eight times for the All-Star, to four for Doncic at 23 years old.
The point guard, who is in the last year of his contract and earns 37 million dollars per season, did not compete this Saturday in the Nets game against the Wizzards, in the midst of negotiations for his departure, although the official reason was some muscular discomfort.
Irving came to the Nets in 2019 to open an ambitious sports project that would include Kevin Durant and James Harden.
Between injuries and lack of continuity, the ambitions of that project were far from reality.
In total, the Durant-Harden-Irving trio only shared the track in 16 games.
Irving himself has barely played in half of his team's games since joining the Nets, who lost early in the playoffs in 2020 and 2022 and in the Eastern Conference semifinals in 2021.
Last season, Irving appeared in just 29 of his team's 82 games.
His refusal to get vaccinated against the coronavirus prevented him from playing in New York.
The team initially punished him by not playing away either, although they later allowed him to.
NBA champion in 2016 with LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers, his career has been marked off the courts by controversy.
Before refusing to receive the covid vaccine, he repeatedly questioned whether the Earth was round, although he later apologized.
The latest has been his promotion of an anti-Semitic film, which cost him a temporary removal from the team and the rupture of a lucrative agreement with Nike.
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