Latest Mavericks Rumors On Kyrie Irving + Ex-NBA Star Says Start PJ Washington OVER Cooper Flagg

Latest Mavericks Rumors On Kyrie Irving + Ex-NBA Star Says Start PJ Washington OVER Cooper Flagg

Before we get started with today’s show, I wanted to hear what your guys’s favorite restaurant is in the Dallas Fort Worth area. My favorite right now is Las Palmus. Great Mexican food in Uptown. That’s my favorite. Let me know yours down at the comment section and let’s get started with today’s show. Welcome into Mavericks Today by Chat Sports. I’m Jeffrey Cooperstein. I wanted to kind of set the table here with what we’re going to be dealing with with Kyrie Irving this off seasonason. Kyrie has until June 24th to opt in or out to the final year of his contract. And the Mavericks and Kyrie can mutually agree to push back or move up that date. But right now, it’s set at June 24th and that’s the date we have to keep in mind with Kyrie Irving. We’ll talk more Kyrie here in just a second, but I wanted to ask you guys to give me a follow over on Twitter X, whatever you want to call it right now. First 10 followers will give me a shout or I’ll give you guys a shout out on a future show. It’s Jeff_Coup 27. Always tweeting about the Mavs, the NBA, the Stars, even though our stars, if you’re watching this on Friday, may already be eliminated from the postseason or going into a game six, but always talking about all of Dallas sports. So, give me a follow and we’ll give you a shout out here on a future show. So, back to Kyrie Irving, who has been an absolute model citizen for the Mavericks since they traded for him at the 2023 NBA trade deadline. And if I’m being honest, it worked out way better than I think myself or anyone expected with Kyrie coming to the Mavs. He was obviously dealing with a lot of baggage with his time in Brooklyn. And the Mavs got Kyrie on a pretty big discount. They traded Dorian Finny Smith and a couple of other pieces along with one first round pick for Kyrie. He comes back and so far in his two and a half years with the Mavs has averaged 25 and a half points, five assists, five rebounds, shooting over 40% from three as well and close to 50% from the field. Kyrie being a walking 50 4090 and basically being the spiritual leader of this Mavericks team has been fantastic. Like I said, he has been great to the Mavericks. They absolutely do not get to the finals without him. And the Mavericks, it’s no secret, they want to bring Kyrie back and I think Kyrie would like to be in Dallas on his next contract because it’s worked out for both sides. I think Kyrie felt a little bit misunderstood in Brooklyn. And obviously there were some things I think he regrets about his time in Brooklyn and I think there are things uh that Brooklyn regrets as well. And it feels like it’s just been a marriage made in heaven with Kyrie and the Mavs is the Mavs have given Kyrie the support that he’s wanted. And in turn, the Mavs have gotten a fantastic version of Kyrie Irving. And hopefully when he returns from injury here in late January, early February, they’re going to get that same version as well. He’s going to be back with the Mavericks. I want to throw that out there right now. Uh if he opts into the contract, he will negotiate an extension with the Mavericks and they’ll try to figure out something from there. if he opts out, they’ll just resign him to a new deal. So, I think either way, he’ll be a Maverick long-term going forward. And he is eligible, if he wanted to, to opt out and sign a 5-year, $213 million max deal with the Dallas Mavericks. And if Kyrie Irving really wanted to, he could hold the Mavericks hostage and force the Mavs to pay that number. The Mavs really don’t have any other choice. If they didn’t want to pay Kyrie and he walked and went elsewhere, the Mavs would be up a creek without a paddle at the moment, and you certainly do not want that. Like I said, Kyrie’s also the spiritual leader of this team. He’s the guy that tried to keep everyone grounded after the Luca trade. He’s the guy that tried to just keep everything sane, which is crazy because if you told me that about Kyrie 3 years ago, I would have told you that you’re insane. But nonetheless, he’s going to be a Maverick. It just depends on how they’re going to get this next contract figured out. But I have little doubt that Kyrie will be a Mav beyond the 2526 season. Let me know down in the comment section though. Will Kyrie opt in or out of the final year of his deal? Again, he has until June 24th to make that decision. If you think he’s going to opt in, type I. If you think it’s O, type out. Let me know down there in the comments. All right. I’ve held off on talking about this for as long as I possibly can, but I have to address this absolute tom foolery that Gilbert Arenas brought to my attention earlier this week on his podcast, whatever his podcast is called. You see all the clips on Tik Tok, Twitter, whatever, all the time. He said PJ Washington will start over Cooper Flag on opening night for the Dallas Mavericks. This will not happen. End of story. I I don’t know what to tell you. Like, if Cooper Flag and PJ Washington are both somehow on this roster this season, PJ will come off the bench or start at the Ford. They might start together, but PJ will not start in place of Cooper Flag. That just simply won’t happen. Make no mistake about it, Cooper Flag is starting on opening night for the Dallas Mavericks. Whether it’s at the two, whether it’s at the three, whether it’s at the four, you will hear Cooper Flag’s name uttered by either Sean Heath or whatever visiting PA announcer that the Mavericks are at to open the season. Flag is going to be a Maverick. PJ Washington may not be a Maverick, though. And look, I think Washington has been fantastic for the Mavs, especially last year. He was kind of the reason that they even made the playin. He was one of the main reasons they were still competitive after the Luca trade and he was had one of his most consistent years of his career and 32 minutes a night averaging 15 almost eight rebounds not so great on the playmaking side but that’s not really what you ask him to do 38% from three like you couldn’t ask and in addition to guarding the opposing team’s best player on most nights you really couldn’t ask more of PJ Washington than what he did last year but when you have the opportunity to draft a potential generational talent in Cooper Flag with the number one overall pick. He’s going to start opening night and you are going to make concessions to him to fit around him. I like PJ Washington. I love PJ Washington, but he no longer fits on this team. Number one. Number two, he’s heading into the final year of his contract, so he’ll be a free agent in the summer of 2026. And I do not see the Dallas Mavericks giving him a large extension, which he absolutely deserves after his play that took the Mavericks to the 2024 NBA Finals and his play last season where he had one of his best career years. I think PJ right now is the biggest trade asset that the Mavericks have at the moment. Um, if he wants to come off the bench, great. He’d be a fantastic bench piece. I would love him off the bench playing starter minutes as a six or seventh man. He played 30 minutes a night and he was the first guy off the bench to take AD out of the game. I’m all in on that. But if he wants to start, go use him and acquire a more pressing need like a point guard. You could probably go find someone pretty good in exchange for PJ Washington or you can get yourself um maybe a first round draft pick if you trade him alone that the Mavericks desperately need because they don’t control their own pick from 2027 through 2030. So, why not try to leverage Washington into a deal that can make you a better team? Like I said, I love PJ. If he’s okay with coming off the bench for this season, I’m all in on that. I’d also be okay if the Mavericks wanted to go get something for him and not let him walk for nothing in 2026. So, while I think PJ still has a chance to be on this team, I will guarantee you right now, and you can clip this if you’re watching this, Cooper Flag will be starting on opening night 2025 for the Dallas Mavericks. Clip it right now. If it’s between Cooper Flag or PJ Washington, let me know who starts down in the comments. Type one for Cooper Flag, type two for PJ Washington. I don’t I don’t think it’s even a discussion here, guys. It’s honestly not. Just go type your ones down in the comments section and don’t listen to Gilbert Arena’s basketball opinions. Just because you played doesn’t mean you know what you’re talking about. Before we go, let’s get to the latest Mavs draft rumors here. Just a couple of guys that the Mavericks are going to uh work out here in the pre-draft process. Now, this doesn’t mean that they’re looking at drafting them. These guys could also be undrafted free agents and guys that could potentially play on the Mavs summer league team. Aaron Scott, who played at St. John’s last year, formerly of North Texas as well. Shout out to the mean green. Clifford Omarui, who if you think that name sounds familiar, it’s because Eugene Omarui. I don’t know if he’s um I don’t know if that’s his brother or his cousin, but I know they are related. Eugene played for the Mavericks a couple of seasons ago. And then Obina Kllin, I know I butchered that name out of Marshall is another guy that the Mavericks have a pre-draft workout scheduled with. Like I said, these are all undrafted free agents/summer league targets. really don’t think that these guys are uh going to be play a major factor in the Maverick’s decision-making process throughout this draft process, but just a couple of guys that’ll be at the Mavs facility over the next couple of weeks working out. Another reminder to follow me on X at Jeff_Coup 27 for all of the latest Mavericks musings. Whether it’s good, whether it’s bad, whether it’s ugly, you’ll find it here on Twitter, probably even before we do it here on the show. And that will be it for today’s show. Appreciate you for tuning in to Mavericks Today by Chat Sports. Hit that sub button. It’s youtube.com/mapsv. Have a great weekend and we’ll see you guys soon. [Music]

Mavericks rumors today take a look at the latest Kyrie Irving news. Kyrie has an opt out in the final year of his contract that needs to be decided on by June 24. The Kyrie Irving injury will certainly play a factor in that, as Kyrie will miss the first half of the 2025-26 NBA season. A potential Kyrie Irving extension could happen if he opts in, or Mavs GM Nico Harrison will try to extend Irving in 2025 NBA Free Agency.

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Ex-NBA star Gilbert Arenas says that PJ Washington will start over Cooper Flagg for the Mavericks on opening night of the 2025-26 NBA season, with Flagg slated to be the number one overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft by the Mavs. Is Arenas right or will Flagg get the start on opening night?

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You know ball? Prove it in the comments section!
– Favorite DFW restaurant?
– HELA 🤞🏽: Will Kyrie opt in or out of the final year of his deal? I for In, O for Out
– WHO STARTS? Type 1 for Cooper Flagg or 2 for PJ Washington

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