NBA free agency 2023: Kyrie Irving staying with the Mavericks was the only and best option

It was the only option for the Dallas Mavericks, weary as they are.

It was the best option for Kyrie Irving, who got what he wanted despite the belief he had very little leverage.

The mistakes of the past created the need of the present for both parties, who now must embark upon the battle of building around Luka Dončić and Irving, hoping they’ll play well together and the other corresponding pieces will augment this cemented partnership.

Irving’s three-year pact worth $126 million isn’t at Damian Lillard levels (estimated $60 million a year starting in 2025-26) and is below what Fred VanVleet received from the Houston Rockets — a team Irving was rumored to visit in the coming days.

Extensions for young players have trumped Irving’s salary, and it feels like sticker shock for those who remember a different NBA — the cap has nearly doubled since 2015-16 ($70 million to $136 million in 2023-24).

Salaries have jumped and will continue to jump in the next couple years, so the exorbitant numbers Houston and Dallas shelled out won’t feel so bad before too long.

If that’s who Dallas was bidding against, it was all that was needed for Irving. For all the distractions and internal negotiating that come with having Irving on your team, his talent is undeniable.

And more than anything, Irving feels wanted. You can certainly make the argument he’s not easy to wrap your arms around, but the one thing Dallas has in its favor is Irving knowing he’s not part of some package deal, that he won’t be tolerated but embraced.

Maybe that’s half the battle, or at least a way to produce the best possible results.

He’s more than the player who hit a shot in the Finals seven years ago on LeBron James’ team, more than a player who put up 41 in an elimination game in the same series. It’s hard to imagine given everything that comes with the Irving package, but he’s a better basketball player than the All-Star in 2016.

It’s just a matter of him staying on the floor, staying aligned with the team goals. It’s never the same controversy with Irving, it’s just different ones that are often unpredictable — his Bingo board of instances that can cause him to miss games would look like the word “imaginative.”

But he’s that with the ball, spellbinding and mesmerizing. He and Dončić didn’t have much on-court time together last season, just 10 games and the 3-7 record isn’t a big enough sample size to make reasonable determinations for how this will play out.

In those 20 games in Dallas, Irving shot 51/39/94, scoring 27 points a night with six assists — production that isn’t easy to find, especially with the ball-dominant Dončić controlling more than a third of the usage.

There’s plenty of room for the duo to grow, more room for Jason Kidd to construct a defense around those two offensive wizards assuming he gets the personnel to do it. Kidd wasn’t afraid to handle Irving then, pushing for the deal to get done, and isn’t gonna be swayed now.

Irving’s docket is his docket, which also goes into the play for the Mavericks, too. Irving ranks as the most talented second star this franchise has had, perhaps ever. Steve Nash wasn’t fully realized as a co-pilot to Dirk Nowitzki, and the only All-Star not named Dončić or Nowitzki in nearly 20 years was Josh Howard in 2007 — and he was only offered the spot after injuries.

From the cadre of defenders and wing players Dončić has played with to Kristaps Porziņģis, there hasn’t been great luck in pairing Dončić with anyone.

But Irving was more than willing to take on the challenge. Perhaps it was because of his acrimonious exit from Brooklyn, a promising dream that turned into a Nightmare on Atlantic Ave, then a sequel, then another, Irving knows he can’t waste precious opportunities.

That isn’t to be confused with leverage, though — which Dallas admitted to the moment they traded the guts of a Western Conference finalist to acquire him midway through last season.

Playing hardball with Irving would’ve had them looking like Philly southwest, wasting precious time that counts on the franchise player’s running clock. The 76ers messing around with James Harden has led to a possible stalemate considering 76ers general manager Daryl Morey hasn’t been in the business of trading stars for anything less than stars — after Harden realized his double-digit salary sacrifice wouldn’t result in the favor being returned this summer.

If Morey has the stomach to let the Harden saga drag on, it could cost him in the long run. He did that with Ben Simmons and got Harden out of the deal — still, though, never making it out of the second round.

Mavs owner Mark Cuban and general manager Nico Harrison were aware playing stupid games would only result in stupid prizes, and after deciding to take a chance on Irving given the sample size, they practically committed to seeing this thing through.

Do you hold your breath with Irving, and hope he’ll be a consistent figure with stability and a franchise that he knows wants him as opposed to one that tolerates him? Yes, still. There’s still room for other moves to be made in addition to the subtle ones that occurred on draft night and the agreement with Seth Curry hours after Irving’s commitment.

But it’s better than the alternative, looking for a way to facilitate Irving’s exit to a possible Western Conference contender that’ll surely make your life a living headache.

You want to create an environment where both sides know exactly what it is, eyes wide open. Both sides are aware they’re better with each other than wandering in the wilderness without, not a forced arrangement. And both sides are aware success relies on trust as much as anything.