5 things Dallas Mavericks must do to keep Kyrie Irving in free agency

Dallas Mavericks must be willing to give Kyrie Irving some say in personnel decisions

The Mavs are no strangers to giving their best players some say in who they acquire. They ran the Kyrie trade by Luka Doncic to get his approval, and the 24-year-old has recently desired to be more involved in personnel decisions.

This is Luka’s team, but if Irving is going to be the co-star long-term, Kyrie will also want to have a voice in the roster building. He got that in Brooklyn with Kevin Durant, which did not always work out. KD and Kyrie pushed for the James Harden trade, which quickly flamed out. They also had Brooklyn sign DeAndre Jordan to a massive contract, which was a disaster.

Players making the final decisions in roster building is often a disaster. The NBA’s all-time leading scorer was the one who wanted the Lakers to trade for Russell Westbrook over Buddy Hield, and LA is dealing with the repercussions of that deal.

In Dallas, owner Mark Cuban is always going to have the final say. Getting his ear is the key to being the top decision-maker, and that person is not always the general manager. From Chandler Parsons to Bob Voulgaris, others have gotten Cuban’s attention in the past.

The Mavericks need to give Kyrie a seat at the decision-making table, but more than anything, they must get their superstars to work their partnership out.