Controversial NBA player Kyrie Irving has been traded to the Dallas Mavericks, owned by billionaire Mark Cuban, days after Irving—who has faced criticism for an antisemitic tweet and for his stance on Covid-19 vaccines—reportedly requested to be traded from the Brooklyn Nets.
In exchange, the Mavericks will send Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith and multiple draft picks to the Nets. Also, the Mavs will send the Nets a 2027 second-round pick, a 2029 second-round draft pick, and a unprotected 2029 first-round pick.
Background to the Move
On Friday, it was reported that Irving requested to be traded off the Nets ahead of the NBA’s Thursday trade deadline. Irving, 30, has played for the Nets since 2019, a time in which he was no stranger to controversy. Irving sat out during home games in the 2021-2022 season because he was unvaccinated for Covid-19, and has said he missed out on a four-year, $100 million contract extension for doing so.
Not strange to issues, Irving was benched last year for eight games after he promoted antisemitic content on social media, causing him to lose roughly $3.6 million before he eventually apologized and returned to the team. Nike cut ties with him in December after the fallout. Despite his controversial actions, Irving is one of the league’s top scorers and was recently chosen as a starting NBA All Star
First Game
Irving is expected to arrive in Dallas on Monday, and then will likely make his debut with the team on Wednesday when they take on the Los Angeles Clippers at Crypto.com Arena.