On Wednesday night, the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Miami Heat 111-92 to record their 50th victory of the year.
Kyrie Irving received exactly $1 million more as a result, as it enabled him to claim one of his two bonuses for the 2023–2024 campaign. Several reports state that in order for Irving to receive the first incentive, the Mavericks had to win 50 games and Irving needed to play in 58 games.
With just two games left in the regular season, Irving will not meet the requirement of 65 games played for his second bonus.
With reference to the three-year, potentially $126 million contract that Irving inked in September, “I wanted everything that was structured in my contract incentive-wise to be based on production and that was wins and how many games I’m playing,” Irving said reporters. “I can hear every sound. I therefore just wanted to make sure that, heading into the season, I had some reasonable expectations for myself in addition to some amicable terms, with the goal of simply playing as many games as possible.”
Few teams have been hotter than the Mavericks heading into the playoffs. The team has won 16 of its last 18 games, Luka Dončić continues to make an incredibly strong MVP case while nearly averaging a triple-double on the season (33.9 PPG, 9.8 APG, 9.2 RPG) and Irving has seemed to truly jell with his superstar teammate.
The Mavericks have now locked in the No. 5 seed and a first-round matchup with the Los Angeles Clippers.
As for Irving, he’s averaging a cool 25.6 points, 5.2 assists and five rebounds per game, shooting 49.5 percent from the field and 40.7 percent from three. The Mavericks are outscoring opponents by 6.9 points per 100 possessions with Irving on the court, per NBA.com, and are outscored by 0.7 points per 100 possessions when he sits.
It’s obvious he’s settled into Dallas. And on Wednesday, he added a little extra cash.
