Blockbuster Celtics Trade Could Bring Kyrie Irving Back To Boston
With the firing of Nico Harrison happening on Tuesday, the Dallas Mavericks are being urged to blow things up and re-build around Cooper Flagg. This has convinced fans and pundits alike that Anthony Davis and/or Kyrie Irving could be traded soon.
And while some Boston Celtics fans are already starting to dream about a trade for Davis, close to zero Celts fans are even considering a reunion with Kyrie, who is seen as a huge villain in Boston due to his rocky tenure with the Celtics.
What Kyrie haters don’t realize, however, is that Boston could actually address three key issues by making a blockbuster trade with Dallas that brings Irving back to Boston.
The following trade proposal involving Kyrie would improve Boston’s weak frontcourt situation, free up near future cap space, and reignite immediate contention hopes for the 2025-26 season.
Here’s what the trade could look like. It’s a three-team deal involving the Brooklyn Nets, who are looped in to necessarily take on some salary from the Celtics.
The Deal
Celtics receive: Kyrie Irving, Daniel Gafford, Dwight Powell
Mavericks receive: Jaylen Brown
Nets receive: Sam Hauser, 2032 second-rounder from Dallas
For context, here’s a look at the salary outlooks for each player involved in the above proposal.
Irving: $76 million through 2027-28 (player option)
Gafford: $68.8 million through 2028-29
Powell: $4 million expiring
Brown: $236.2 million through 2028-29
Hauser: $45 million through 2028-29
So, why would the Celtics do this trade? Let’s start with the basketball reasons. Gafford would address Boston’s rebounding problems and give the Celts a prime-aged starting center for the next there-and-a-half seasons (Gafford is 27). Gafford’s contract is cheaper than anything the Celtics would find in free agency for a player of his caliber.
Losing an NBA Finals MVP and franchise cornerstone in Brown would be extremely tough, but adding Irving and Gafford in exchange would make the Celtics a better team right away, especially if Jayson Tatum returns this season. Irving, by the way, is expected to return at some point early in 2026 (and he can’t be traded until December 15, it should be noted).
This is what Boston’s rotation would look like once Kyrie and Tatum are back:
Starters:
Derrick White
Kyrie Irving
Jayson Tatum
Josh Minott
Daniel Gafford
Bench:
Payton Pritchard
Anfernee Simons
Hugo González
Jordan Walsh
Neemias Queta
Deep bench:
Luka Garza, Chris Boucher, Xavier Tillman, Baylor Scheierman
The above is a contending roster if healthy, especially in a weakened Eastern Conference. It’s also a better roster than the Celtics would have if they didn’t make the trade and remained constructed as is.
This trade also comes with financial benefits for Boston. Namely, it would allow Brad Stevens to move off of Brown’s massive contract in exchange for a pair of smaller contracts, one of which (Kyrie’s) expires a full year sooner than Jaylen’s.
In short, the trade would provide Stevens with greater financial flexibility moving forward into the beef of Tatum’s prime. By the summer of 2028, a 36-year-old Kyrie would be off the Celtics’ books, and Stevens would receive another injection of cap space as he re-tools around a 30-year-old Tatum.
We’re not going to get too deep into why the Mavericks would do this trade, but to be brief, the opportunity to pair Cooper Flagg with Jaylen Brown (and Anthony Davis, if they don’t trade him) would be the reason. Jaylen is four years younger than Kyrie and thus fits better with Flagg’s timeline. Losing Gafford would sting, but they have another, younger center in Dereck Lively II.
If Celtics fans can look past their feelings about Kyrie, they’ll realize that this trade proposal is a lot more respectable than they initially assumed.