N.J.’s Kyrie Irving ‘happy to come back’ to Mavericks after free agency
Kyrie Irving is glad to be back.
Despite being linked to other teams like the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers in free agency last summer, the West Orange, N.J. native agreed to remain with the Dallas Mavericks on a three-year, $126-million deal. His agent and stepmother, Shetellia Riley, helped negotiate the deal.
“It wasn’t too difficult of a process,” Irving said at Mavericks’s media day on Thursday. “Had Dallas as No. 1 on my list. Obviously I looked elsewhere -- salary cap opportunities, where I could fit in with other guys around the league -- but there just wasn’t much space. And me being 31 now, I had to have a different vantage point, and I felt like I could not just settle here but be happy to come back here and be welcomed back with a warm embrace.
“So I took everything into account. I took my time a few days before free agency just to be with my family, gauge how they felt about being in Dallas alongside me. And everybody was excited. I mean, even when I got traded here, midseason, a lot of my family was excited and they were just looking forward to me having a peace of mind just on the court and off the court. I had already dealt with enough last season or the past two seasons, so they knew that I just wanted a lot of that off my back and off my shoulders of feeling like I had to be Superman or I had to be perfect. I just wanted to be myself. And then going on the last few years, just figuring myself out. So I think this is the best place to do it and continue to mature and grow as a man.”
The former St. Patrick High School star averaged 27.0 points and 6.0 assists in 20 games with Dallas last season after being traded by the Nets at the deadline. He shot 51% from the field and 39% from deep. Irving, an eight-time NBA All-Star, has career averages of 23.4 points, 5.7 assists and 3.4 rebounds.
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Irving hasn’t played more than 60 games since the 2018-19 season with the Celtics due to various reasons, including his decision not to get vaccinated against COVID-19. His new contract reportedly includes a $1 million annual incentive for playing at least 65 games and another $1 million if the team wins at last least 50 games and Irving plays a minimum of 58.
“I wanted everything that was structured in my contract incentive-wise to be based on production and that was wins and how many games I’m playing,” said Irving. “I hear all the noise. So I just wanted to make sure that I had some friendly terms, but also some realistic expectations for myself going into the season, looking to just play as many games as possible.”
The Mavericks went 5-11 last season with both Irving and Luka Doncic in the lineup. Irving (foot) and Doncic (ankle) were both dealing with injuries down the stretch.
The Mavericks missed the NBA postseason after the team essentially opted to tank at the end of the season by not playing its top players. Owner Mark Cuban was fined $750,000 by the NBA as a result.
“I think we were being too passive with one another,” Irving said of himself and Doncic. “We’re both killers on the court, everybody knows it. We want to win. So we just have to continue to have that consistent mentality together and lead the team as best we can alongside other guys that have experience in this league or young guys that we have to coach even more. So it’s all been a learning experience. It was so quick last year and it was so much pressure on us to win now, win big, and ‘It’s Luka and Kyrie, why can’t you guys win games?’ So we were answering a lot of questions that honestly I don’t think we were ready for.
“And health is everything in this league. So us not being 100 percent and going through last season and trying to do the best we could mentally and emotionally and physically, I got to give ourselves some grace and some credit.”
Dallas also added former Net Seth Curry on a two-year, $8,000,000 contract and former Celtic Grant Williams on a four-year, $54 million deal.
