Updated

Updated · Yahoo Sports · Jul 4

Mavericks Pitch $15 Million Path to LeBron James as Kyrie Irving, Cooper Flagg Bolster Case

Updated

Updated · Yahoo Sports · Jul 4

Mavericks Pitch $15 Million Path to LeBron James as Kyrie Irving, Cooper Flagg Bolster Case

Q: Can a rookie star and two aging legends actually form a championship core for the Mavericks?

Yes, but only as a narrow, short-window bet rather than a stable long-term championship formula. The basketball logic is real. Cooper Flagg already looks like a franchise centerpiece after a Rookie of the Year season of 21.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists, and LeBron James has long admired his game. Kyrie Irving, if healthy by camp after his ACL recovery, gives Dallas a proven late-game creator and an established on-court history with James. Around them, Dallas has useful structural pieces: rim protection from Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II, shooting from Klay Thompson and Max Christie, and front-office flexibility after clearing cap space and staying well below the tax and apron. But the risks are just as obvious. James would be 41 during the season and is now more realistically a high-end third option or low-end second option on a title team. Irving is 34 and coming off an 18-month recovery from a major knee injury. Thompson is 36. That is a lot of age and health uncertainty for a Western Conference contender, especially for a team that just went 26-56 and missed the playoffs for a second straight year. So the trio could be good enough if Flagg makes a rapid leap into near-All-NBA territory, Irving returns close to form, and James accepts a reduced but still elite role. Without that near-perfect alignment, Dallas would look more like a dangerous playoff team than a true championship favorite.

3 articles · Updated · Yahoo Sports · Jul 4

Dallas can offer LeBron James a clearer basketball case than Rich Paul’s podcast pitch suggested, centered on a Kyrie Irving reunion, Cooper Flagg’s rise and usable cap flexibility rather than off-court ties.
Irving, who tore his left ACL in March 2025, said in May he is nearly fully recovered and expects to be ready for training camp, potentially restoring the point guard James won a 2016 title with.
Flagg strengthened Dallas’s appeal after averaging 21.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists as a rookie, winning Rookie of the Year and dropping 45 points on the Lakers in April.
Financially, Dallas sits about $39 million below the tax line and $45 million under the first apron, giving it a $15 million midlevel exception, a $5.5 million biannual exception and a $20.8 million trade exception.
That flexibility already helped Dallas add Santi Aldama and target Marcus Sasser, part of a broader rebuild after a 26-56 season that still leaves the Mavericks short of max-salary firepower for James.