On Monday evening, the Dallas Mavericks saw their season unofficially come to an end when Kyrie Irving went down with a torn ACL during a home loss vs the Sacramento Kings. The injury was the latest in a series of unfortunate events that began when the team shockingly traded away Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in early February.
Irving has received an outpouring of support from across the NBA world in the wake of his injury, and recently, the 32 year-old took to his account on X, formerly Twitter, to share a quote from the late Kobe Bryant to give some perspective.
“‘May you always remember to enjoy the road, especially when it’s a hard one.' Black Mamba,” wrote Irving.
Irving had developed a close bond with Bryant during their time in the NBA together, and in many ways, the late superstar's impact on Irving's game can be seen in the way he plays.
Bryant always faced adversity with a strong mindset, which seems to be the approach that Irving is taking in the wake of his injury as well.
A lost season for the Mavericks
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Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (11) is helped off the court by forward Naji Marshall (13) and forward Anthony Davis (3) during the second quarter against the Sacramento Kings at the American Airlines Center.
Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
Just over a month ago, things were looking optimistic for the Mavericks. The team was doing a solid job of holding down the fort during Luka Doncic's injury, and they were making a habit out of defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder, the only team that was far ahead of them in the Western Conference standings.
Fast forward just over thirty days, however, and the Mavericks find themselves in arguably the worst position in the entire NBA. Not only did the team bafflingly trade away Doncic in what is already on the short list for worst deals in NBA history, but they also saw their key return in that trade–Anthony Davis–go down with a significant injury in his first game on the Mavericks.
Now that Irving is out for the year, the Mavericks' will be lucky to hold onto a spot in the play-in, let alone the playoffs–assuming that that's even their desired outcome at this point in time.
In any case, the Mavericks' season will continue on Friday vs the Memphis Grizzlies.