NBA Intel: Latest on Kyrie Irving Free Agency meetings, Kyle Kuzma’s top prospect, more – Bleacher Report

Star point guard Kyrie Irving is expected to meet with the Phoenix Suns along with the Dallas Mavericks and possibly other teams when NBA free agency begins June 30, league sources told TNT/Bleacher Report. The Houston Rockets could also request a meeting, according to sources.

The meetings are expected to take place in Los Angeles, sources said.

The Suns are still extremely aggressive in trying to acquire top talent to play alongside their three stars in Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. New Suns general manager Matt Ishbia and general manager James Jones have been working tirelessly to build a legitimate championship team.

It will be difficult for the Suns to add Irving due to the NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement. If they acquired him through a sign-and-trade, they would be hard-capped on the first salary cap apron, which is currently projected to be $172 million. They are also not expected to have access to the $12.4 million exemption for middle-level non-taxpayers or the $5 million exemption for middle-level taxpayers at this time.

The Mavericks are still considered the favorites to re-sign Irving. Ideally, they would like to get a commitment from him early in free agency so he can help recruit other free agents.

Irving is eligible for a five-year, $272 million max contract.

There is growing momentum that the Rockets will have an advantage in signing unrestricted free agent Kyle Kuzma, league sources tell B/R

The Sacramento Kings have also shown interest in Kuzma. They are one of the few teams with that type of cap to offer the veteran forward the salary he is looking for.

The Rockets are poised to turn the corner on their rebuild by adding proven players capable of getting them back to the playoffs next season.

Houston may also sign unrestricted free agent point guard Fred VanVleet, as Marc Stein reported for his post. However, the Toronto Raptors want to re-sign Van Vleet.

A new two-way contract provision in the new CBA will be informally dubbed the “Harry Giles III rule,” which will allow NBA players who sit out a full season this year to not count toward the three-year maximum for two-year eligibility. the road.

In the previous CBA, a player with less than four years of service was eligible to be signed to a two-way contract. Initially, these same parameters were set to remain unchanged in the new CBA.

Under the old guidelines, Giles III would not have qualified for two-way status entering the 2023-24 season because he had technically been on an NBA roster for four seasons. However, he missed his entire 2017-18 debut season with the Sacramento Kings due to knee issues, and this season officially counts as his first of four years in the NBA.

Giles’ agent, Daniel Hazan, disputed that rule and appealed to the league and the National Basketball Association to argue that his client, or any other player, should not have a season that should not count against them. if he has not played a full season in the first three years.

Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum, one of Giles’ teammates at Duke, even contacted the league to express his concerns about the eligibility requirements of a two-way contract.

“I reached out,” Tatum told B/R. “I’m just trying to help my man. He deserves this chance.”

After several conversations between Hazan, the union and the league, the requirements for bilateral contract status were changed. Now, a player who didn’t play a full season in his first three years in the league will not have that year count against him for two-way eligibility.

Ron Klempner, the NBPA’s general counsel, is also pushing for that change.

David McCormack, a 2022 undrafted pick from Kansas, and Ahmad Kaver, a 2019 undrafted pick from Old Dominion, will both play for the Toronto Raptors during summer league, league sources say.