Is Kyrie Irving to the Suns possible? Why Phoenix is unlikely free agent, sign-and-trade destination for star

The Mavericks might not be the only team Kyrie Irving considers in free agency.

According to Bleacher Report's Chris Haynes, the eight-time All-Star is expected to meet with the Suns, Mavericks and "possibly other teams," including the Rockets, when free agency opens on Friday.

Houston's interest in Irving has been known for a while, but Phoenix is a relatively new development.

While the Suns reportedly reached out to the Mavericks recently about a possible sign-and-trade for Irving, it was before they acquired Bradley Beal in a blockbuster deal with the Wizards. Haynes adds that the Suns are "still being ultra-aggressive" in adding top talent to their core, hence their interest in Irving, who is one of the best players available in this free-agent class.

Could the Suns sign Irving? Yes. Is it likely? Probably not. Here's why.

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Is Kyrie Irving to the Suns possible? 

As Haynes details in his report, there are two reasons the Suns would have a hard time actually acquiring Irving even though he's an unrestricted free agent.

One, a sign-and-trade would hard-cap the Suns at the first salary-cap apron. Even if they could pull off a sign-and-trade — Deandre Ayton would almost certainly be involved for financial reasons — the Suns would likely have to fill out the rest of the roster with minimum contracts, making them even more top-heavy than they already are.

Two, the Suns aren't projected to have the non-taxpayer midlevel exception ($12.4 million) or taxpayer midlevel exception ($5.0 million) available to them. That means Irving would likely have to take a significant pay cut to join Phoenix.

Irving could do that, of course, but he would be leaving a lot of money on the table.

The Mavericks, who are still considered the favorites to sign Irving, can offer him a five-year, $272 million contract. Even if he doesn't get the full max, he stands to get a significant contract. The Sporting News' Steph Noh projects Irving will sign a three-year, $120 million contract with the Mavericks that includes a player option.

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It's hard to know how much Irving would be willing to sacrifice if he was dead set on joining the Suns. For what it's worth, Yahoo's Jake Fischer reported in June of 2022 that there was a belief Irving would opt out of his contract with the Nets to sign with the Lakers for the taxpayer midlevel exception. Irving ended up picking up his player option, setting himself up to be an unrestricted free agent this offseason.

Would Irving be willing to do something similar to join the Suns? They would certainly give him an opportunity to compete for a championship and they have a need for a point guard after including Chris Paul in the Beal trade. It would also reunite him with Durant, who he played two and a half seasons with in Brooklyn and once said was his "best friend."

Perhaps Irving is serious about joining the Suns. Alternatively, this could be a leverage play to get what he wants out of the Mavericks. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski recently said he doesn't think money will be "as much of an issue as how many fully guaranteed years" in contract negotiations with Dallas. That could factor into this.

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Suns salary cap sheet

The Suns currently have six players under contract for next season. That does not include Cameron Payne or Jordan Goodwin, both of whom have partially-guaranteed contracts.

Durant, Beal, Booker and Ayton alone will make a combined $162.9 million in the 2023-24 season.

Kyrie Irving career stats

• 23.4 points per game
• 5.7 assists per game
• 3.9 rebounds per game
• 1.3 steals per game
• 0.4 blocks per game
• 2.6 turnovers per game
• 47.2 percent field goal shooting
• 39.1 percent 3-point shooting
• 88.5 percent free throw shooting