Kyrie Irving agrees to 5-year, $90 million max deal with Cleveland Cavaliers
The first priority for the Cleveland Cavaliers this offseason was to re-sign their star point guard and former No. 1 overall pick, Kyrie Irving, to a max deal. That contract was agreed upon in the opening hour of free agency on Tuesday morning.
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Cavaliers owner, Dan Gilbert, tweeted the news that he and Irving shook hands on a five-year deal and the former Duke Blue Devils point guard will sign the deal on July 10. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo tweeted the deal is worth $90 million.
Irving and the Cavaliers have expressed optimism in recent days that a deal would get done when it looked like the Cavs could be losing another former No. 1 overall pick via free agency or trade earlier this season when Irving was reportedly against a future in Cleveland.
Then again, who is going to turn down $90 million over the next five years and play with Andrew Wiggins who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft and by all accounts a future superstar in the making.
Irving’s assist totals could see a marked increase with the development of Wiggins over the life of this contract as Irving continues his march toward the upper-echelon of point guards in the NBA. Irving averaged 20.8 points, 3.6 rebounds and a career-high 6.1 assists while also playing in a career-high 71 games.