Stephen A. CALLS OUT the Dallas Mavericks 🗣️ ‘Kyrie Irving GOT LOW-BALLED!’ | First Take

Stephen A. CALLS OUT the Dallas Mavericks 🗣️ ‘Kyrie Irving GOT LOW-BALLED!’ | First Take

these last seven years have been a roller coaster we’ve been through a lot the losses the expectations to get to this point with JT to be able to say we did it we came together and we won a championship i love you bro and that was the most important thing jason Tatum Jaylen Brown doing it together doing it as one it makes it so much sweeter how many years was it relentless break them up they can’t play together that is laid to rest they have become a dynamic duo and ready to be a championship duo it’s over banner number 18 has been secured the Celtics are NBA champions we did it and I share this with my partner in crime Jason Tatum he was with me the whole way a year ago the Celtics were champs and now they’ll look completely different next season good morning everyone welcome into First Take thank you for being with us that is Brian Winhor Stephen A smith i’m Molly Karen marke Morris will be here as well and Bob Myers in studio shortly gentlemen good morning what’s up good morning how are y’all doing oh we’re fantastic let’s get this party started uh the busy off season continued yesterday for Boston when they sold off another piece of their championship team according to Shams the Celtics are trading away Chriszingis in a second round pick to Atlanta as a part of a three-team deal in return they’ll get George Niang and a second rounder this was the Celtics second significant trade in less than 24 hours after sending Drew Holiday to Portland and Sham says they might not be done my understanding is the Celtics are getting offers calls on both Jaylen Brown and Derek White the Celtics have high price thresholds for both players we know how great Jaylen Brown and Derek White are so I’m sure they’re getting some massive offers some pretty big time calls as well their preference has been to keep both players but will a team match that price threshold that the Celtics I’m told have set around the league for Jaylen Brown and Derek White to be able to get them they are listening but will a team get there stephen A it was all good just a year ago should the Celtics trade Jaylen Brown or Derrick White i don’t think so i’m not of that mindset i think that the the Boston Celtics can still compete in the Eastern Conference when we see Hallebertton and what’s happened to him in Indie when we see how the Knicks are up in the air in terms of who their coach is going to be when we see Cleveland folding during the playoffs the way that they did when we see Orlando who just acquired Desmond Bane but it still remains to be seen what they’re going to do and what they’re to deliver there are enough question marks in the Eastern Conference for you to be the Boston Celtics and still be in a position to compete i know they’re looking at their payroll over $500 million obviously you got two $300 million players in Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown you just unloaded Chris Staps Porzingis you were about 23 million over the second apron so they’ve got those things to consider which is why Chris Porzingis is gone but if you look at a Derek White already Drew Holiday you sent him to Portland you look at a Derek White you look at Anthony Simons you think about a Jaylen Brown you got to keep Cornet or Horford you can’t lose both of them you got to keep one of them in my opinion you got to have a big obviously i think if you’re the Boston Celtics you know you still got a chance but here’s the biggest reason why I say no first of all Derek White is somebody you want to keep on your roster he’s a money player i love Derek White but here’s the biggest thing i want to find out i want to see for the first time in their career Jaylen Brown as a number one option the Boston Celtics with him and Jason Tatum together both in back-to-back years 2016 2017 the third overall picks in each respective draft okay what happened they’ve been the five conference finals two NBA finals and they’ve won a championship and have never missed the playoffs in their careers together excuse me Jason Tatum is out i want the big brother Jaylen Brown to say “Yo I’m here we gonna be all right.” That’s what you want on a basketball team and I want to see what the Celtics look like without Jason Tatum with Jaylen Brown as a number one option i say no you keep him i’m highly skeptical that they would trade him however some of their actions make me wonder because the trades that they made yesterday Drew Holidayiday they got Anthony Simons the word is out on the street that Anthony Simons may not necessarily stay they may move on okay the Porzingis trade and I realize they had to dump the money that was a straight money dump with all due respect to George Niang who they got back in that deal he’s a number eight or number nine player absolutely so it makes me wonder if they’re not looking at something else to bring in more talent because their talent drain here Stephen A has been pretty significant and here’s here’s the big question you have to ask yourself first off understand that when they signed Jaylen Brown and Jason T of these contracts they knew they were headed for an ownorous situation wasn’t like they did it in the dark they knew that there was going to be a day that came where they were going to have to not be have this roster at this this expense they were hoping they could push it off a little bit more but it didn’t make sense anymore with Jason Tatum out for next year but this is the big question in 2026 because it’s not a case of 2025 in 2026 does it make sense to run an NBA team where you where two players make $115 million because that’s where those guys are in this era of aprons in this era where you need depth does it make sense for two players to have that much money tied up in them i don’t know the answer the league is the league is changing right now the league is trying to figure it out this is what I think the Celtics are figuring out and keep in mind the reason that today is the day that this decision is probably going to get made is there are teams in the top 10 who are making offers top 10 of the draft tonight and you’d potentially be able to get replacement players and a draft pick i don’t know if Brad Stevens and his staff is in love with one of these top guys maybe they are but that’s what is on the table i agree with Stephen A i say at midnight Jaylen Brown is still a Celtic and Derrick White is still a Celtic and they run it back and they get ready to go in 2627 move these pe these pieces you get under the apron and you bring in guys that can fit the mo that can be ready to compete for a championship in 2026 that’s what we’re looking at with the Boston Sussex because they have always been aggressive they they always a step that organization is always a step ahead of everybody else they said they’re going to shed salary they share salary in a big way right so going forward it’s bringing the guys that you think that can help this team win a championship in 2026 because as long as you have these two guys the Jays on the team you want to be competing for a championship and that’s what they have to do here’s the deal y’all this is basketball and when you’re talking about one of the most storied franchises in the history of basketball which is the Boston Celtics them and the Los Angeles Lakers okay nobody wants to hear about rebuilding nobody wants to hear about tanking the season or anything like that by keeping Jaylen Brown that’s the message you send and understand you have somebody like him specifically in case something happened to Tatum just like you have Tatum specifically just in case something like this happens to Jaylen Brown this is what basketball is all about you don’t just sit up there and look at a Jason Tatum and say “Well he’s out for the year therefore we going to get rid of Jaylen Brown too.” That’s not what you do you keep Jaylen Brown you make sure and he establishes himself as a number one option and guess what if he does what reason do you have to believe that you’re not going to be competing for titles down the road i understand you just you had your comeuppance against the New York Knicks more props to them i get that part but over the course of their careers as I’ll repeat it they’ve been a five conference finals two NBA finals they’re a champion and they just won the championship last year so to me there’s no reason to do that right now find out what he is and what he’s made of let him show you i think Jaylen Brown is looking forward to that challenge it’s not it’s not the same oh Jason Jason Tatum goes down in game four i mean if this happened early in the season that’s a different thing but all he had was game five and six and they won game five very convincingly and then they lost game six very convincingly but give this man the season and see what he has yeah let’s get to the team the Celtics beat in the finals last year guys it’s been a busy week for the Mavericks leading up to the NBA draft on Monday after the conclusion of the NBA finals Shams broke the news that center Daniel Gaffford is expected to resign with the team on a three-year deal for almost $60 million and it didn’t stop there as ninetime all-star Kyrie Irving intends to sign a three-year $119 million contract to stay with the Mavs this comes after Kyrie declined his $43 million player option shams reported that last night now tonight after winning the lottery Dallas holds that number one pick in the draft uh with the feeling that they’ll be picking the consensus number one player in freshman Cooper Flag from Duke the great state of Texas a lot is happening there in basketball stephen A was it smart to give Kyrie the three-year extension uh yes it was but let me say something further i think Tyrie Kyrie Irving got lowalled i think he deserved more it’s Kyrie Irving we talking about here you don’t let go of a Luca Donic if you don’t have Kyrie Irving in that life you want to know what Kyrie Irving meant to the Dallas Mavericks before his injury they were willing to unload Luca Donuch a 25-year-old global basketball iconic figure with playoff numbers that compared to Michael Jordan that’s who you let go of and you did it with no problem because Kyrie Irving was in your back court this man has arrived in Dallas i don’t give a damn what happened all these years in in Brooklyn and how he made noise off the court that was not the case in Dallas when he came to Dallas he was balling he was a model citizen as Keith would tell us all he is beloved throughout the NBA community with by by his peers he is not a cancerous effect on a team or anything like that what happened to him he got injured he got injured and so for me I’m going like this in today’s NBA economy where you got Cats getting paid 5560 million plus you couldn’t give this guy at least the 43 to 45 a year remember he was supposed to get the player the player option would have given him 43 million so to me at 119 million forgive my math but I think I’m pretty good at at stuff like that when it comes to contracts i think I know a little thing or two about it the brother got n 119 million that is a a fraction less than 40 million per kyrie Irving deserves more than that and so it has me looking at ownership because I’m saying okay if this were Mark Cuban he would have had more no question about it they would have made that investment okay and and and remember his success isn’t predicated on his athleticism the way a Derrick Rose or Russell Westbrook was not to say he’s not athletic or whatever but this brother is a magician with the basketball and we know how brilliant Kyrie Irving can be so because his success isn’t predicated on athleticism there’s no reason to believe that he’s not going to come back from an ACL injury and still be effective you look at what you’ve got in AD Gaffford and the rest of the crew i’m just saying yeah they got him and he was smart to take that bag uh but he deserved more make no mistake about it and as an aside I also saw some reports about Orlando being interested in God Sham Godwells he’s an assistant coach on the Dallas Mavericks i don’t know if y’all know that telling my age here i covered this brother when he was in high school in New York City we go back a long ways or whatever i’m advising him on national television leave get the hell up out of Dallas you understand because I’d like with new ownership and some of the decisions that they’re making to curb cost and what have you they seem to be more about numbers rather than taking care of the people they need to take care of and I’m not saying it’s an awful thing because I understand business decisions need to be made every day but with Kyrie Irving I want to emphasize I think he’s been lowballed and God sham God get the hell up out of there go to Orlando with Mosley you know who that brother is get the hell up out of there and and and and and start a new by the way there’s no state income taxes in Florida too you good get the hell up out of there there’s something else you know about yes yeah god shame guy that’s my guy right there man shout out Shout out him do I would agree with with Stephen A on this one man do is best for you brother if Kyrie took a little bit less to be able to get more players to be able to win the championship right three years he has a player option in the next two we be basically sitting out majority this year so he really has to play you know a full two years uh when his player option come up but if you ask me it was it was something that Kyrie agreed to let’s let’s get more players in here let’s get a backup point guard at a good number for us to be able to compete and win another championship so he’s committed to the community i would say the number is low but I believe Kyrie was was acceptance to that let’s just put this very clearly this is a big win for Nico Harrison yes a needed win for Nico Harrison 24 hours ago we sat here and Stephen A you made it clear you thought Kyrie was not being treated right and you said that because you weren’t guessing all right so if Kyrie had I know that this is counterintuitive if Kyrie had just picked up his player option which is what was the deadline the reason this was an issue was the deadline was midnight last night if he had just picked up his player option it would have been a problem because it would have meant he wasn’t committed long term and I’ll just take you back to when he was in Brooklyn and the same situation happened they got to the day where his player option was there they couldn’t agree to a contract he picked up his player option within a few months he was gone and I was afraid if that’s what happened here that that’s what was going to happen so not only did Nico get Kyrie to agree took a pay cut and put them into a situation where they can use their mid-level exception and the reason they need to have that is because they need to sign a point guard to play a big chunk of the season while Kyrie recovers from that ACL so they’ve put themselves in position to draft Cooper flag tonight tonight is a day to celebrate in Dallas and next week when free agency begins they can go out and say “Come be our point guard back up Kyrie Irvy you can start for half the year.” Now the coaching staff’s a different story yes that’s a problem because not only God Sham God they lost Sean and I know we’re not here to analyze assistant coaches but they lost Sean Sweeney their lead assistant to San Antonio they’re losing Jared Dudley who Heath will tell you is one of the most popular assistant coaches in the league godamn God is one of the reasons why Kyrie I’m not saying the only reason a the biggest reason he has a great relationship with Kyrie Irving so they got problems on their coaching staff they also got Jason Kidd who hasn’t gotten a contract extension and the Knicks haven’t hired a coach i’m just going to state those two facts and move on but it is a reason to congratulate Nico Harrison and the front office to get Kyrie into this country on a side note I’m going to give my man Cameron some love he his is what it is podcast with him and Mason stuff like that that brother played high school basketball in New York City he’s got a lot of roots he knows a hell of a lot about what’s going on uh in Dallas and in the NBA overall so I want to give him some love as well but let me say this and it’s very very important that I add this listen in the end we have to pay attention to what’s going on in Dallas with new ownership suddenly it ain’t about Nico Harrison now because the one thing that Nico Harrison is marvelous at is relationships guys his background is marketing and what have you so now that we see what’s unfolding we see a guy Shamgar we see assistant coaches looking to go elsewhere we see Kyrie Irving pretty ticked off because he wasn’t being treated fairly and they weren’t talking about that numbers a number he ultimately settled in think about this why couldn’t you at least make it 120 to make sure that he was at that 40 number why couldn’t you do that why had to be 119 why couldn’t it be 120 you know I know but I’m just saying damn you know I I pay attention to stuff like that that really bothers me listen hey listen i think people know I know how to negotiate now i’m just saying i mean come on now it could have been 40 but you didn’t do it and I’m just looking at this organization and some of the changes that are being made and bodies that are departing and suddenly it ain’t just about Nico it’s about a new ownership group that’s flagrantly different from Mark Cuban mark Cuban was about relationships too it wasn’t all business relationships were a part of business i don’t know if this new ownership is the same way and if you got people that don’t want to be there who’s to say Jason Kid ain’t going to be next and who’s to say what’s going to happen then

Brian Windhorst, Stephen A. Smith and Markieff Morris join Molly Qerim on First Take to react to the Boston Celtics trading Kristaps Porzingis to the Atlanta Hawks, Kyrie Irving declining his player option with the Dallas Mavericks, how threatening the Mavs will be after drafting Cooper Flagg and more.

0:00 Shams Charania’s report
2:11 Should Jaylen Brown or Derrick White be traded?
4:10 Windy’s thoughts
6:32 Markieff’s advice
9:10 Kyrie news
9:40 Kyrie’s extension
11:36 Stephen A. goes off
13:17 Markieff agrees
15:28 Losing assistant coaches
16:29 Paying attention to ownership

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