The Dallas Mavericks have a big decision to make during Thursday night's draft, as they currently own the 10th overall pick and have been exploring trade opportunities coming their way. Whether or not they hold onto this pick will have drastically impact their roster for the 2023-24 season, especially with Kyrie Irving being an unrestricted free agent this summer.

When they traded for Irving at the trade deadline this past season, the Mavs intended on signing Irving to a long-term extension to pair him with superstar Luka Doncic for the foreseeable future. Being a free agent though, Irving has the freedom to sign with any team in the league and will likely be evaluating all of his options when the free agency period begins.

Ushering confidence in his team's ability to re-sign the eight-time All-Star guard, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban appeared on 97.1 The Freak in Dallas on Thursday to not only discuss his team's plans in the 2023 NBA Draft, but what the future holds for Irving.

“We want to sign him, and hopefully he wants to come back,” Cuban said, via Callie Caplan. “I'm not going to handicap anymore. I learned my lesson last year.”

The “lesson” Cuban is referring to from last year is when the team let Jalen Brunson walk away in free agency, signing a four-year, $104 million deal with the New York Knicks. Even though Irving has been a distraction at times, he is still one of the better guards in the entire NBA and Dallas envisions him being a part of their future.

As far as the draft goes, the Mavericks have options with the 10th overall pick and Cuban stated that the team is looking to find talent they can surround Doncic and Irving with for years to come. He also mentioned how the team needs to add frontcourt depth this offseason.

“We need a center that can protect the rim,” Cuban continued, via Caplan. “I think we need to improve our rebounding and offensive rebounding from the wings and power forward position

Whether or not the Mavs hold onto their draft pick will be a key storyline to watch during Thursday night's draft, but it is very clear to see that Cuban and Dallas want Irving to stick around. They have no intentions of a potential sign-and-trade in free agency and the Mavericks would not have given up all that they did for him if they were prepared to let Irving walk this offseason.