Kyrie Irving tries to bluff his way to a max contract

The Suns have four players on large contracts even without Irving. Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal, Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton combine to make nearly $163M, which is just under the luxury-tax line of $165M with just four players.

That means Phoenix could only offer Irving a veteran minimum deal without ditching one of the big four — most likely Ayton — but a proposed draft-night deal for the former No. 1 fell through.

Even if they could move Ayton's contract to clear space for Irving, it's still unclear whether having three high-scoring guards in Irving, Beal and Booker would be the ideal approach for Phoenix. If you include Durant, those players combined to take 76 shots per game last year, while the Suns' entire team averaged 90 per game.

The real takeaway is that Irving or his agents are clearly trying to create leverage to pressure the Dallas Mavericks to give him the contract he wanted. It's very similar to the dubious report that Irving wanted Dallas to trade for LeBron James last year (King James wasn't trade-eligible) or when he claimed he would play with the Lakers for the $6M mid-level exception last summer. (He opted into his $36M deal instead.)

The most logical landing spot for Irving is still the Dallas Mavericks. But after trades for Durant and Beal, Phoenix has spent so big that any Suns rumor is now automatically plausible. And thus, the perfect team to create leverage, no matter how unrealistic.