The phone in Dallas has been ringing. The Mavericks keep hanging up.
According to reporting out of the offseason, multiple teams have tested the waters on Kyrie Irving, and the Mavericks have shut every one of them down. Dallas has zero interest in moving the 34-year-old guard, and the front office has made that clear to anyone brave enough to ask.
The reasoning is simple. Dallas plans to build its next chapter around Kyrie and Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg. New head coach Dusty May has already talked publicly about designing an offense that leans on both of them, and the goal is to compete right now, not run a slow rebuild around a teenager.
Here is the risk. Irving is coming off ACL surgery from March 2025 and missed the entire 2025-26 season. That is a brutal recovery for any guard, let alone one entering his mid-thirties. Dallas is essentially betting that a nine-time All-Star can return close to form after 15-plus months on the sideline.
Some fans are ready to cash Irving in for picks. That crowd is looking at his age, his injury history, and the Flagg timeline and doing simple math. Sell high on the veteran, stockpile assets, let Flagg cook for three years, then reload.
We think that crowd is wrong.
Cooper Flagg is not the type of prospect who benefits from losing on purpose. He is polished, he is competitive, and he is already being talked about like a franchise cornerstone. Handing him the keys to a tanking roster in year two would be developmental malpractice. He needs a real point guard, a proven closer, and a running mate who understands how to punish switches. Irving is all three.
There is also the trade market to consider. Right now the league does not value injured 34-year-olds. Anyone offering serious assets for Irving is offering them for the version of Kyrie they want to see, not the version currently rehabbing. Dallas would be selling into the worst possible market.
Better to let him play. If Irving hits the floor in October and looks like himself, his value climbs. If he does not, Dallas is not any worse off than they would be dealing him for pennies today.
The Mavericks also have a public trust problem to manage. Trading Luka Doncic gutted the fan base. Turning around and moving Kyrie within 18 months would send a message that no star in Dallas is safe. That is not a message a franchise can survive twice.
Keeping Irving is a basketball call and a stability call at the same time. Ownership needs to send a message that Dallas can still hold onto stars.
There are teams reportedly circling. LeBron James is rumored to have interest in a reunion. Contenders looking for a scoring guard will keep sniffing around all season. None of that matters as long as Nico Harrison and ownership hold the line.
The Cooper Flagg era in Dallas starts next season. It starts with Kyrie Irving next to him, not without him. The Mavericks are right to hold, and they should keep hanging up until someone offers something they cannot possibly refuse.
Right now, nobody has.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
