Kyrie Irving agrees to stay with Mavs, Doncic on a $126 million, 3-year deal

DALLAS (AP) — Kyrie Irving wants to run it back with LukaDoncic.

The enigmatic guard and the Dallas Mavericks agreed Friday on a$126 million, three-year contract in the opening hour of NBA freeagency, a person with knowledge of the deal told The AssociatedPress. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because contractscan’t be signed until Thursday.

The person said the Mavericks also had an agreement on atwo-year deal with guard Seth Curry, who is set for his third stintwith the club.

Irving, who wouldn’t talk about his future during his partialseason with Dallas and declined to meet with reporters after theseason, appeared to referencehis decision to return in a one-wordtweetwith “peace” and “love” emojis.

The Mavericks paired All-Star starters for the first time infranchise history by adding Irving in a blockbuster deal withBrooklyn last February, but stumbled down the stretch to miss theplayoffs for the first time since Doncic was a rookie in2018-19.

Dallas was in the middle of the postseason chase when Irvingjoined the club, but the eight-time All-Star and Doncic, afour-time choice, were just 5-11 together with both missingmultiple games because of injuries.

The Mavericks won their first two games with Irving but went7-18 the rest of the way and couldn’t even make the play-intournament a year after reaching the Western Conference finals.

Irving originally had been offered an extension by the Nets lastsummer, before their relationship fell apart and Irving asked to bedealt.

General manager Nico Harrison’s second blockbuster deal forDallas didn’t provide the spark of his first — a 2022 trade thatsent Kristaps Porzingis to Washington and gave the Mavs a keyplayoff contributor in Spencer Dinwiddie.

Dinwiddie was one of two players Dallas sent the Nets, as wasdefensive stalwart Dorian Finney-Smith. Defense was high on thelist of reasons the two-month trial of Doncic and Irving didn’twork.

Doncic has three years remaining before the player option on the$215 million rookie max extension he signed two summers ago. Hesaid after the season he wants to see where the superstar pairingcan go.

“I wish we could continue that chemistry, relationship,” saidDoncic, who finished second in the scoring race at a career-best32.4 points per game. “It’s not going to happen in a day, in aweek. It’s a building process.”

Dallas’ tumultuous season ended under thecloud of an NBAinvestigationafter Irving didn’t play and Doncicwas limited to the first quarter when the Mavs still had play-inhopes with two games remaining.

The 31-year-old Irving and Doncic both sat for a meaninglessseason finale after aloss to Chicago in the game inquestioneliminated the Mavs a season after theywent to the Western Conference finals.

The 0-2 finish helped Dallas retain the 10th pick in the draft,which the Mavs parlayed into a pair of first-round picks in Dukecenter Dereck Lively II at No. 12 overall and Marquette’sOlivier-Maxence Prosper at 24. Had Dallas dropped to 11th or lower,the pick would have gone to the New York Knicks.

Before the trade, Irving spent three-plus seasons in Brooklyndealing mostly with self-induced drama.

Irving missed almost all of the home games in 2021-22 because hewouldn’t get vaccinated against COVID-19, and missed eight gamesearly last season after the team suspended him after he tweeted alink to a film containing antisemitic material. Nike ended itsrelationship with Irving over the tweet.

Days after sending Irving to the Mavericks, the Nets tradedKevin Durant to Phoenix in another blockbuster as the celebratedBrooklyn pairing ended with a whimper — and just one playoff seriesvictory.

Curry, the younger brother of Golden State superstar StephenCurry, kick-started his career the first time he was with the Mavsin 2016-17, three years after entering the NBA as an undrafted freeagent.

He averaged 12.8 points in 70 games after playing just 50 gamesin his career before that, then spent one season in Portland beforehaving another solid year in Dallas.

Curry left again in free agency in 2020, signing withPhiladelphia. He then joined Irving in Brooklyn when he was dealtas part of the trade that sent James Harden to the 76ers and BenSimmons to the Nets in 2022.