According to an ESPN report Tuesday morning put out around 1 a.m., former Duke star Kyrie Irving has received a maximum contract offer from the Cavaliers front office.
Cleveland’s fiery point guard is reported to have accepted the deal—a 5 year, $90 million contract that is the maximum allowable for a player in Irving’s draft class with the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement—according to this tweet from Cavs owner Dan Gilbert.
Irving has averaged 20.7 points and 5.8 assists per game in three seasons in the NBA, and is regarded as one of the league’s most talented offensive players.
Tuesday is the first day of free agency and is also the first day that players like Irving from the 2011 draft class can work on contract negotiations and extensions. Hypothetically, Irving and the Cavs would have until the end of October to complete a deal, but it appears that both parties are content with the state of the organization for now.
Irving would go on to confirm the reports just two hours after the clock struck midnight, announcing his new deal with Cleveland.
The man who originally broke the news—ESPN’s Chris Broussard—included information about Irving being more pleased with his surroundings in Cleveland when reporting that the team’s brass was flying to New Jersey to make the offer.
The biggest changes the Cavs have made so far are the additions of renowned European basketball mind David Blatt as the franchise’s new coach and Kansas guard Andrew Wiggins, who the team selected with the first overall pick in last Thursday’s NBA Draft. Cleveland took Wiggins instead of Duke product Jabari Parker.
Wiggins’ potential to be an elite defender and help mask Irving’s deficiencies on that end of the floor likely has something to do with the 22-year-old’s newfound optimism about the team.
The Cavaliers are not done dealing with former Blue Devil stars, as veteran Luol Deng is a free agent after joining the team in the middle of last season. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, the Hawks have their eye on the versatile small forward.
Considering Deng’s struggles in Cleveland and the team’s hope that Wiggins and last year’s number one overall pick Anthony Bennett will pan out, it seems likely that Deng could be on his way to Atlanta in the near future.
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