When Kyrie Irving demanded a trade from the Brooklyn Nets on Friday, a league-altering domino fell and shook up the marketplace, causing a shockwave across the league and an arms race to get underway. It would pit several of the league’s teams looking for that one difference-making piece that could get them to the top of the list of title contenders against each other.
As soon as Irving’s trade request became known, the Nets had a handful of serious suitors come their way, including the Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks and LA Clippers. After receiving a series of offers, from those teams and others, the Nets struck a deal with the Mavericks on Sunday, sending Irving along with Markieff Morris to Dallas for Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, a 2029 first-round pick and two second-rounders in 2027 and 2029, according to league sources, who like all of the sources in this story were granted anonymity so that they could speak freely.
After a turbulent opening month of the NBA season that included an eight-game suspension from the Nets due to his promotion of an anti-Semetic documentary and repeated refusal to apologize, Irving has once again emerged as a difference maker of the Association: an NBA All-Star for the eighth time with season averages of 27.1 points, 5.3 assists and 5.1 rebounds in 40 games so far.
Irving’s trade request stunned the NBA, as he and Kevin Durant were in the midst of their best stretch as a duo since joining Brooklyn in 2019 and the Nets had emerged as a contender in the Eastern Conference. But Irving asked out due to principle issues with the franchise, with league sources telling The Athletic that there were unsalvageable differences that had him headed toward a separation, regardless of what the Nets offered in contract extension talks over the past week.
For the Mavericks, the move — stamped by owner Mark Cuban and general manager Nico Harrison as well as coach Jason Kidd — pairs the eight-time All-Star Irving with MVP candidate Luka Doncic. Dallas has been coveting an elite talent to pair with Doncic, and team sources say that they believe their organization’s culture and environment will be an ideal fit for Irving.
