ESPN’s Brian Windhorst thinks Kyrie Irving displaying up on the Los Angeles Lakers video games is a leverage play to get more cash from the Dallas Mavericks in free company.

“The 2 huge names out on the [free agent] market this 12 months are James Harden and Kyrie Irving,” Windhorst stated on his podcast. “Each of them, at $48 to $50-something million, look like very unhealthy bets. However, there’s a shortage [of star talent] there.

“I additionally assume that each of them, Kyrie displaying as much as Laker video games, James Harden being rumored to be connected to the [Houston] Rockets, I nonetheless assume/suspect all of that’s one big leverage play. That, what James Harden actually needs is to elicit the largest provide out of the Sixers even when it isn’t a max [contract]. Regardless of the variety of cash is, for so long as a few years as he can get. And that this gradual dance for months and these rumors are all kind of tied to that.

“And I believe that Kyrie may very well be doing the identical actual factor [with the Mavericks]. Simply doing all of this, and no matter he might do between now and free company to attempt to get the juiciest provide he can from the group he’s on. ‘Trigger [the Sixers and Mavericks] face probably the most harm from dropping these guys.”