The Dallas Mavericks have gotten a major injury update on nine-time All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving, who has been on the shelf since tearing his ACL this past March.
It’s already looking like a borderline-lost season for the 4-10 Mavericks. Last week, Dallas fired general Nico Harrison just nine months after his NBA-altering trade of a package headlined by five-time All-NBA First Team guard Luka Doncic for aging, injury-prone 10-time All-Star center/power forward Anthony Davis, 3-and-D wing Max Christie, and a single future first-round draft pick.
Davis has missed nine straight games for Dallas with a calf injury as of this writing, and is set to be on the shelf for at least the next week.
Without Irving available, Dallas head coach Jason Kidd has struggled to fully trust new point guard D’Angelo Russell (a summer signing by Harrison), whose trick-or-treat offense and lackluster defense have confounded several of his prior NBA stops. As a result, Kidd has leaned on rookie forward Cooper Flagg, the No. 1 pick out of Duke, to initiate a lot of his offense and handle far more than he ever has.
But the Mavericks have gotten a positive update on the status of Irving, one of the great ball handlers in league history.
Per Andscape/ESPN’s Marc J. Spears, Irving (himself a Duke alum) is hoping to return to the floor at some point this year.
“Kyrie’s looking good, he’s ahead of schedule. He’s working out with the purpose of playing this season, which I’m sure Mavericks fans are glad to hear. I think, optimistic-wise, probably around late January, All-Star break,” Spears revealed. “Someone close to him told me that, if it was the playoffs, he could play right now - that’s how ahead of schedule he is. But the problem is, who’s running the show, right? What’s their record going to be? Will Anthony Davis be back? I think by the time he’s able to potentially come back in late January, there’s going to be a collective decision from him, from the team, from everybody that’s close to him on whether it’s worth [it] for him to come back or not.”
Davis, one of the team’s two best players along with Irving, has rarely played since being acquired in February, appearing in just 14 regular season bouts. When healthy, he has produced - but one wonders what the 32-year-old big man’s appetite would be for what’s clearly a rebuilding situation. Irving, who’s a year older than Davis, may want to maximize his recovery window if the Mavericks are doomed to spin their wheels for the rest of 2025-26.
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