Kyrie Irving Clearly Had The Mavericks By The Balls And It Earned Him A 3 Year, $126M Deal To Stay In Dallas

And that my friends, is how you successfully use your leverage.

Over the last week or so we heard it all when it came to Kyrie. He was taking meetings with the Rockets. The Sixers might be an option now that Harden is out. Maybe he would take less and go to the Suns. Everyone, including Kyrie Irving, knew that he had Mark Cuban by the balls. You either give him the deal he wants, or he's leaving in UFA. Given what the Mavs paid to bring in Kyrie, they could not afford to let him leave for nothing, even if bringing him in didn't exactly lead to all that much success.

Now, they're locked into paying Kyrie an average of $42M a year. You can tell he really squeezed every bit of leverage out of this deal by getting that final year to be a player option. My guess is he prefers this over having all his years guaranteed because now he can just do this dance all over again in a few years. Maybe he cashes in for another extension when all the new TV money comes in. Maybe he bolts to go join someone else's team. The point is, the only thing this really means for Mavs fans is they're in for a lonnnnnnnng 2+1 years. Don't think just because he got paid that means all the other bullshit that comes with investing in Kyrie Irving suddenly goes away. It's probably the opposite if we're being honest.

The thing is, what choice did the Mavs have? They had to cave to his demands and fork over the years and cash. Again, they had no way to replace him. It's not like they could have just paid Fred VanVleet or anything. They don't really have the money to spend on any of the top PG free agents so here we are. They made their bed and now they have to lie in it. Maybe this year they actually get into the Play In, and once that happens who knows what's possible. The Heat just made the Finals from the Play In, so it's possible!

In reality, I think we all know what's going to happen here. It's going to end in disaster. The Mavs probably know that too, but their hands were tied. This is what happens when you have zero leverage, you have to fork over $126M to someone who you can't exactly rely on. That's tough.