Sports
NBA Intel: Latest on Kyrie Irving Free Agency Meetings, Kyle Kuzma's Top Suitor, More – Bleacher Report
Star point guard Kyrie Irving is expected to meet with the Phoenix Suns along with the Dallas Mavericks and possibly other teams when NBA free agency begins on June 30, league sources tell TNT/Bleacher Report. The Houston Rockets could seek a meeting as well, according to sources.
Meetings are expected to take place in Los Angeles, sources say.
The Suns are still being ultra-aggressive in trying to assemble top talent to play alongside their three stars in Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. New Suns governor Mat Ishbia and general manager James Jones are working tirelessly to construct a legitimate championship team.
It would be difficult for the Suns to add Irving due to the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement. If they acquired him via sign-and-trade, they would be hard-capped at the first salary-cap apron, which is currently projected to be $172 million. They also aren’t expected to have access to the $12.4 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception or the $5 million taxpayer mid-level exception at the moment.
The Mavericks are still considered the favorites to re-sign Irving. They would ideally like to get a commitment from him early in free agency so he could assist in recruiting other free agents.
Irving is eligible for a five-year, $272 million max contract.
There’s growing momentum that the Rockets will have the edge in signing unrestricted free agent Kyle Kuzma, league sources tell B/R
The Sacramento Kings have also shown interest in Kuzma. They’re one of the few teams with the type of cap space to offer the veteran forward the salary he’s seeking.
The Rockets are ready to turn the corner on their rebuild by adding proven players who are capable of leading them back to the playoffs next season.
Houston could also sign unrestricted free agent point guard Fred VanVleet, as Marc Stein reported on his Substack. However, the Toronto Raptors want to re-sign VanVleet.
A new provision on two-way contracts in the new CBA will informally be dubbed the “Harry Giles III rule,” which will allow NBA players who sit out an entire season not to have that year count toward the three-year maximum service for two-way eligibility.
In the previous CBA, a player with less than four years of service was eligible to be signed on a two-way contract. Initially, those same parameters were set to go unchanged in the new CBA.
Under the old guideline, Giles III wouldn’t have qualified for two-way status entering the 2023-24 season because he had technically been on an NBA roster for four seasons. However, he missed the entirety of his 2017-18 rookie season with the Sacramento Kings due to knee issues, and that season officially counted as the first of his four years in the NBA.
Giles’ agent, Daniel Hazan, challenged that bylaw and reached out to the league and the National Basketball Players Association to make the case that his client—or any other player—should not have a season counted against them if they did not play for a full season in their first three years.
Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum, one of Giles’ teammates at Duke, even contacted the league to voice his concerns about the requirements for two-way contract eligibility.
“I reached out in support,” Tatum told B/R. “Just trying help my guy. He deserves this shot.”
After several conversations between Hazan, the union and the league, the requirements for two-way contract status were amended. Now, a player who does not play a full season during his first three years in the league will not have that year counted against him for two-way eligibility.
Ron Klempner, the general counsel for the NBPA, also fought for this change.
David McCormack, undrafted in 2022 out of Kansas and Ahmad Caver, undrafted in 2019 out of Old Dominion, will both play for the Toronto Raptors during summer league, league sources say.
