NBA Free Agency: Could Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant reunite on a Phoenix Suns super-team?

Could Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant be headed for a reunion on a Phoenix Suns super-team?

Irving will meet with the Suns once free agency kicks off on Friday evening, according to a report from Chris Haynes of Yahoo:

“The Suns are still being ultra-aggressive in trying to assemble top talent to play alongside their three stars in Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. New Suns governor Mat Ishbia and general manager James Jones are working tirelessly to construct a legitimate championship team.

“It would be difficult for the Suns to add Irving due to the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement. If they acquired him via sign-and-trade, they would be hard-capped at the first salary-cap apron, which is currently projected to be $172 million. They also aren’t expected to have access to the $12.4 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception or the $5 million taxpayer mid-level exception at the moment.”

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Thus, the only way such a deal could happen would be if Irving, a West Orange native who played at St. Patrick High School, took a minimum contract with Phoenix to reunite with Durant, with whom he joined the Nets during free agency four summers ago.

That partnership yielded a total of one playoff series win and a whole lot of drama as Irving missed games due to his vaccination status and other personal issues, while Durant suffered multiple injuries during his tenure in Brooklyn.

Still, when Irving was traded at the deadline in February, Durant said the Nets lost their “identity.”

“It was a blow to our team, it took away our identity,” Durant said after being dealt to Phoenix. “He was a huge, huge part of what we do. He’s a Hall of Fame player, a great, great player that can do everything on the floor and we relied on that.

“So without him we didn’t have a clear identity so that was tough for me to stomach. I loved playing with those guys throughout the year.”

From a financial standpoint, returning to Dallas makes the most sense for Irving. He could re-sign with Dallas on a 5-year, $272-million deal or enter free agency and sign a 4-year, $220.6-million deal, per ESPN. The Mavericks could also offer him a shorter deal based on his limited availability in recent years.

“The market for Kyrie Irving [in terms of] legitimate places that he would leave Dallas for that makes sense [and] that are available to him [are] extremely limited,” ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said on air. “Perhaps almost nil. I think the full expectation is that he returns to Dallas.”

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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com.