Dallas Mavericks star guard Kyrie Irving debunked any rumors or speculation about why he may or may not have torn his ACL.
On Saturday morning, Irving shared this post on his personal Instagram account following his ACL injury.
"Too many minutes??? Or did I get knocked off balance?"
Injuries happen and are unpredictable. It's unclear if Irving's injury was caused by the number of minutes he played or by stepping on Kings' Jonas Valanciunas' foot, which we see in the photo he posted.
Nonetheless, it happened, and it is a real blow to the Mavericks' playoff chances. Prior to the game on Monday against the Kings, Irving averaged 39.3 minutes over his last 10 games, a stretch that began right before the massive trade that sent his former teammate Luka Dončić to the Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis. He played the most in the NBA from Feb. 4 to March 2.
The 32-year-old also played 37 or more minutes in nine of his last 10 games, ending the March 3 contest.
Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd touched on the topic and also debunked the minutes conspiracy theory.
"He invited that," Kidd said. "He wanted that. But are we reporting that? Are we? No, we're not reporting that. We're reporting that we're running someone into the ground. That's not true. That's his job, is to play. And he loves to play.
"And it's all right to play 40 minutes at the age of 32, in a month's span. This isn't the whole season, right? I think sometimes we're taking things a little bit too far, or we're not really telling the truth because we want the likes or the hearts, or we want somebody to put us up on this platform of not telling the whole truth. Because it was a freak accident. It happened early in the game. We should be promoting our athletes, our players to play more minutes and play more games, but are we? Probably not."
The past month for the Mavericks has not been ideal, from losing the face of the franchise to the multitude of injuries they've endured. A season after finishing three games short of an NBA title, all things considered, the Mavericks' season could end after 82 games.
Irving finished the season averaging 24.7 points per game, 4.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 1.3 steals while shooting 47.3 percent from the field and 40.1 percent from three in 36.1 minutes of action.
More news:Mavericks' Star Kyrie Irving Out for Season After Suffering Torn ACL
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This story was originally published March 8, 2025 at 1:47 PM.