Kyrie Irving controls the Mavericks’ fate this off-season

Now that the NBA trade deadline is done and dusted let's look ahead to this off-season for the Dallas Mavericks. Prior to the blockbuster trade between the Mavericks and the Brooklyn Nets, Kyrie Irving reportedly favored a move to Los Angeles to team up with Lebron James.

However, the Nets ultimately chose not to accommodate Kyrie's desired destination. According to a report from Marc Stein, one of Joe Tsai's objectives was to NOT send Irving to the Los Angeles Lakers in the trade. Looking ahead to the off-season, it’s worth asking what could the Lakers offer if Irving chose not to resign with Dallas? What's the best offer the Mavericks could offer Kyrie? With the help of CBAMavs, let's break this down.

The Los Angeles Lakers' actual Salary Cap includes more than LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but we wanted to see what the absolute most cap space the Lakers could open if they stripped it down to just those two players.

With only two players, Lakers had to add ten roster charges. These roster charges are equal to the minimum salary for a rookie. Since teams must have 13 players on their roster, the max cap space is reduced by the subsequent players they would have to sign to fill out a 13-man roster. LeBron, Davis, Kyrie, and ten others. The result of this scenario is that the Lakers, in keeping LeBron and Davis, could offer Kyrie a max starting salary of $35,470,630.

Using that $35,470,630 starting salary, the 4-year max the Lakers could offer Kyrie Irving results in a total contract value of $152,523,709. The Lakers could extend D’Angelo Russell, but for this exercise, let’s concentrate on if they could shed all other salaries to sign Kyrie.

However, if the Mavericks were to facilitate a Kyrie to the Lakers via a sign-and-trade… this is the max. The starting salary balloons to $46,900,00 with 5% raise on each subsequent year. The total value throughout the 4-year deal would be $201,670,000. This would also be the max if a team with at least $46,900,000 in cap space signed Kyrie outright.

What is the most the Mavericks can offer Kyrie in a 4-year deal? Even though it has the same starting salary as another team can offer (35% of the salary cap), Maverick's offer goes up by 8% in years 2-4. This results in a total contract value of $210,112,000 in the 4-year deal.

However, the Mavericks can offer Kyrie even more through the designated veteran 5-year max. The rumor mill didn't imply that Kyrie was asking for this, but I did want to show the whole picture. Based on the projected 134 million cap, that absolute max results in a total contract value of $272,920,480 million over five years. Again, I am not expecting or advocating for this deal, but it helps you to understand everything at Maverick's disposal.

Behind the numbers

• Option 1: If Kyrie Irving left the Mavericks outright this off-season and signed with the only LeBron and AD Lakers, the max deal they could offer the veteran is $152 million.
• Option 2: A sign and trade to the Lakers or another team for Kyrie Irving could up his deal to $201 million.
• Option 3: The Mavericks can offer a 4-year deal of up to $210 million
• Option: 4 The Mavericks can offer the designated vet max for a 5-year max at 272 million

Reviewing each scenario, options 2 and 3 seem to be the more likely outcome. However, Dallas has shown the franchise isn't afraid to lock in a player for a 5-year deal. In 2019, the Mavericks locked in Kristaps Porzingis to a five-year, $158 million contract.