DALLAS (AP) — The Dallas Mavericks and Kyrie Irving have agreed on a $119 million, three-year contract with the All-Star guard still recovering from a torn ACL that will sideline him into the 2025-26 season, a person with knowledge of the deal said Tuesday night.
Irving is declining the $43 million player option in the final year of his current three-year contract, the person told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal isn’t expected to be finalized until the start of the new league year on July 6.
The new contract will align Irving with co-star Anthony Davis, who joined the Mavericks in the seismic trade that sent Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in February. Davis has three years remaining on his contract, with a player option that now will be the same season as Irving in 2027-28.
The agreement with Irving came on the eve of the NBA draft, with the Mavericks poised to take former Duke star Cooper Flagg with the No. 1 overall pick after winning the draft lottery despite having just a 1.8% chance to do so.
Irving also is a Duke alum, as is young center Dereck Lively II. Once the nine-time All-Star returns from his injury, perhaps in December or January, all three among Irving, Lively and Flagg figure to be in the starting lineup if they are healthy.
The 33-year-old Irving came to the Mavericks in a 2023 trade after a tumultuous tenure in Brooklyn. The idea then was to pair him with Doncic, and a year later the duo led Dallas to the NBA Finals for the first time in 13 years. Boston beat the Mavs in five games last June.
The stunning decision to send Doncic to the Lakers elevated Irving’s status, although Davis’ championship pedigree with the Lakers essentially put the two on even footing. Irving, who has averaged 23.7 points and 5.6 assists over 14 seasons, and LeBron James won a title together with Cleveland in 2016.
Davis went down with a groin injury in his Dallas debut, and before he could come back, Irving sustained his knee injury about a month after the Doncic trade.
Skeptics were plentiful when the Mavs traded for Irving, who wanted out of Brooklyn after 3 1/2 seasons of disappointments on the court and plenty of drama off it.
Earlier in the season he was dealt to Dallas, Irving was suspended by the Nets for what became eight games after the team said it was dismayed by his repeated failure to “unequivocally say he has no antisemitic beliefs.”
That came shortly after Irving refused to issue the apology that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver sought for posting a link to an antisemitic work on his Twitter feed. Irving also wound up losing his long relationship with Nike as part of the massive fallout from what he tweeted and the reactions that followed.
Irving also missed much of the 2021-22 season because of his refusal to get vaccinated against COVID-19, which left him essentially ineligible to play in Brooklyn’s home games for much of the season because of New York City rules put in place in response to the pandemic.
There has been no such drama in Dallas, and Irving has enjoyed a resurgence in his career. He was on an expiring contract when the Mavs traded for him. During the 2023 offseason, Irving stayed with Dallas on a three-year deal with a player option in the final season. Now he's about to do it again.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
FILE - Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving advances the ball up court during an NBA basketball game against the Milwaukee Bucks in Dallas, Saturday, March 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez,File)
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia's protesting university students on Sunday collected signatures throughout the country for their request for an early parliamentary election that they hope would oust the autocratic government of President Aleksandar Vucic from office.
Braving freezing weather, the students set up nearly 500 stands in dozens of cities, towns and villages in the Balkan country for residents to sign the election demand, which isn't a formal petition. Students have said that Sunday’s action was meant to put further pressure on Vucic and as a test of support.
Young protesters have been at the forefront of a nationwide movement against Vucic's populist rule in Serbia. More than a year of street protests first started in November 2024 after a train station disaster that killed 16 people.
The concrete canopy collapse in the northern city of Novi Sad was widely blamed on alleged rampant corruption and disregard of construction and safety rules during renovation work at the station. No one has been held responsible for the tragedy.
Vucic has refused to schedule an immediate early vote, but has suggested that it could be held sometime next year. Both parliamentary and presidential elections are otherwise due in 2027.
“We have stands that serve to connect with the citizens," said Igor Dojnov, a student manning one of the points in central Belgrade.
Youth-led protests during the past year have shaken Vucic more than ever during his 13-year-long tenure. Serbia's populist prime minister resigned in January, and Vucic later launched a crackdown on protesters that also drew international criticism.
While street protests have subsided, discontent with Vucic's government is believed to be widespread.
Milca Cankovic Kadijevic, a resident of Belgrade, said that she supported the students, because “I have a desire to live decently — me, my children and my grandchildren."
Vucic has formally promised to take Serbia into the European Union, but he has maintained close links with Russia and China, while facing accusations of clamping down on democratic freedoms and allowing corruption and organized crime to flourish.
He has denied this, and accused the protesters of attempting to orchestrate a “color revolution” under unspecified orders from the West. The term “color revolution” has been used to describe a series of mass protests at the beginning of the 21st century that sometimes led to the toppling of governments in the former Soviet Union states, the former Yugoslavia, the Middle East and Asia.
Serbia's protesting university students collect signatures for their request for an early parliamentary election, in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Serbia's protesting university students collect signatures for their request for an early parliamentary election, in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
People stand in silence to commemorate the 16 victims, killed after a railway concrete canopy fell in Nov. 2024 while Serbia's protesting university students collect signatures throughout the country for their request for an early parliamentary election, in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Serbia's protesting university students collect signatures for their request for an early parliamentary election, in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Serbia's protesting university students collect signatures for their request for an early parliamentary election, in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
