Mavericks free agent Kyrie Irving is reportedly taking meetings in Los Angeles on Friday with 6 teams named as suitors for the star guard.
According to Bill Reiter of CBS Sports, Kyrie Irving is taking meetings with the Mavericks, Suns, Heat, Lakers, Clippers and Rockets.
For the record, a Suns insider refuted a previous report that claimed Irving would be meeting with Phoenix.
Most of these teams would require a sign-and-trade to get Irving. Also, a lot of these teams could be doing this as a favor to Irving rather than actually considering signing the All-NBA player.
Of these teams, the Rockets seem to be a realistic option if they end up whiffing on their free-agent targets this offseason. Kelly Iko of The Athletic also reported that Irving will meet with Houston on Friday. The Rockets are heavily linked to Fred VanVleet among other targets. If they end up losing out on VanVleet, they may heavily consider signing Irving.
The rest of these teams do not seem to be taking anything but a meeting in this situation. If Irving were to somehow take the mid-level with the Lakers or Clippers, it is something that could be appetizing for both teams. Still, Irving would have had to pass up a lot of money in a no-tax state.
What is the likelihood the Mavericks will keep Kyrie Irving?
The Mavericks seem set to re-sign Kryie Irving if they are able to offer him a full max deal. The question will be if they end up re-signing the player to a long-term max deal or a shorter one. The All-NBA player is on the wrong side of the thirty, had injury concerns in the past, and always seems to find himself in a major controversy every season.
The Mavs could have used this gap year to really retool their assets for Luka Doncic. Still, this team is now locked into a duo of Irving and Doncic going forward. It seems like Dallas is looking to add a starting-level defensive center behind these two players due to the fact that these players struggle on that side of the floor.
