After the latest PR debacle to come out of Dallas in the wake of the Luka Dončić trade (this time Nico Harrison continuing to trip over himself at every public turn to justify the deal), the Mavericks are perhaps trying to counter the negative vibes engulfing their franchise by throwing a little bit of good news out into the ether.

"The expectation around the Dallas Mavericks' Kyrie Irving is that he will play a good chunk of next season, and there's optimism that he will be back for the Mavericks by January, and he's got before that a $44 million player option.