The Dallas Mavericks traded two starters and three draft picks to pair a scoring point guard with Luka Doncic. They could have just re-signed Jalen Brunson.
The Mavericks sent Dorian Finney-Smith and Spencer Dinwiddie, their starting small forward and starting point guard, to the Brooklyn Nets to get Kyrie Irving. The idea was to pair a star with Doncic, their 23-year-old superstar. But they ended up with a similar player to Brunson, who signed with the New York Knicks in the off-season after Dallas decided not to pay him.
Irving is averaging 27.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.3 assists while shooting 48.6 percent from the field and 37.4 percent from three-point range. Brunson is scoring 23.1 points per game, with 3.5 rebounds and 6.2 assists, while making 47.3 percent of his shots and 40.4 percent of his threes. While Irving has scored slightly more, these are very comparable numbers.
There are a few points in Brunson’s favor, however. He’s four years younger than Irving. Brunson is more durable, playing all but two of the Knicks’ games this year. In his five-year career, Brunson has played 328 games. In that same stretch of time, Irving played 210. Irving makes $36.9 million this year and he’s a free agent in July. Brunson makes $27.7 million this year, and his salary actually declines over the next two years of his contract.
Also, Brunson has never been suspended for sharing anti-semitic material, left his team for personal reasons, or argued that the Earth was flat.
Dallas could have given Brunson an extension for four years and just $55 million before the 2021-22 season. They declined to offer one until after the trade deadline after it was clear Brunson had out-performed that deal. Then Dallas didn’t try to outbid the Knicks, even though they could have paid him as much as they wanted, and offered a fifth year on his contract.
As Mark Stein said on the “#thisleague UNCUT” podcast, “The Mavs have paid a very hefty price for Kyrie Irving, who is potentially a rental. If he leaves, the Mavs just lost Dinwiddie, Finney-Smith, and an unprotected 2029 pick for cap space.”
Preserving cap space was part of Dallas’ motivation for letting Brunson walk. The problem is, the Mavericks have been terrible at using cap space to lure free agents in the Mark Cuban Era. Now there’s pressure to extend Irving – at a far higher salary than Brunson – or Dallas could lose three starters in two years for nothing.
If they’d simply re-signed Brunson, the Mavericks would still have their full roster, three more draft picks, and a borderline All-Star at point guard on a reasonable deal. Now they’ve committed money, resources, and a precious year of Doncic’s career for one of the NBA’s least reliable players.
The best-case scenario is that Irving can ease the scoring burden on Doncic, mesh well with him, and perhaps even lead the Mavs to the conference finals. Like Brunson already did last year.
