The Brooklyn Nets Kyrie Irving era is officially over!
After requesting another trade for the second time in less than a year, the Brooklyn Nets honored the wish of trading their talented, yet mercurial basketball player.
According to multiple reports, Irving will now join another talented roster of players. The Dallas Mavericks welcome Irving to play alongside Luka Doncic who has needed a strong point guard after losing Rick Brunson to the New York Knicks during the offseason.
Although neither basketball team has made an official announcement, NBA.com reported the move on Sunday.
In a rush to get the news out, The Athletic‘s NBA Lead Reporter, Shams Charania broke the news slightly ahead of other reporters on his Twitter account.
There was speculation in the sports world that Irving was heading to re-team up with LeBron James with the Los Angeles Lakers. The Los Angeles Clippers were also rumored to be the destination whereas no one had an inkling that the Mavericks were even in play to get the talented New Jersey native.
The Brooklyn Nets will be welcoming back Spencer Dinwiddie, who played with the franchise from 2016- 2021, as well as Dorian Finney-Smith. The team will also get the following draft picks from Dallas, the 2027 second-round pick, the 2029 first-round pick (which is unprotected), and the 2029 second round-pick.
In return, the Mavericks will be getting Irving and Markieff Morris.
Although the trade was made with the Mavericks, if Irving doesn’t sign an extension, he will be an unrestricted free agent once the season ends.
Although Irving played alongside one of the best players n the NBA with Kevin Durant, Doncic is also mentioned as one of the league’s brightest stars as well. Presently, Irving is averaging 27.1 points, 5.3 assists, and 5.1 rebounds this season, while Doncic stats are 33.4 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 8.2 assists.
No word of when Irving will take the court with his new team, but the Mavericks do have a game at Utah on Monday night, with the next game scheduled for Wednesday night versus the Clippers.