If things weren’t already going bad for the Dallas Mavericks over the past month, things just hit an all-time low on Monday night. After a slew of injuries following the trade that saw Luka Doncic go to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving is the latest Mavs player to be out for an extended time.
In the first quarter of the team’s Monday night matchup against the Sacramento Kings, Irving tore his left ACL, and he is expected to be out for at least the rest of the season. Irving was named an All-Star this season and is the only NBA player averaging at least 20 points a game on at least 40% shooting from three and 90% from the free-throw line.
Irving hyperextended his left knee on a drive to the basket in the first quarter against the Kings and fell to the ground. Irving immediately looked to the Dallas bench and was eventually helped to the free-throw line, as he was fouled during the play. He hit both foul shots as Mavericks fans chanted “MVP! MVP!” before he was taken into the locker room.
Initially, the injury was reported as a left knee sprain, but on Tuesday morning, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that Irving had torn his ACL and would be out for the rest of the season. Irving was seen crying during his free throws and while he was helped off the court, seemingly knowing in the moment that the injury was serious.
Irving had one of his career’s best seasons before suffering the injury on Monday night. In 50 games, he averaged 24.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.6 assists a night in his ninth All-Star year of his career. Irving was the only constant for the Mavericks this season, as after helping them reach the NBA Finals last year, he was one of only five players who had appeared in at least 50 games this season.
Behind Doncic’s 22 games before the trade and Davis’s incredible three quarters of play for Dallas, Irving led the team in minutes, points, assists, and steals before being ruled out for the rest of the year.
Irving had jumped around from a few teams before he landed in Dallas in 2023, but since then, he has been playing at perhaps the highest level of his career. He and Doncic looked like a great duo in the roughly two seasons they played together, and he started to play at an even higher level once Doncic was traded from the team.
Since the trade and before the injury, Irving has averaged 28.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 4.1 assists in nearly 40 minutes a game. Dallas went 5-5 in that stretch but was playing at a higher level than many expected, considering the trade and the subsequent injuries to a large part of the roster.
Irving’s injury comes just weeks after Davis, Daniel Gafford, and Derrick Lively II were all ruled out for extended periods, as Dallas is now without most of their starting lineup. PJ Washington was injured on Saturday night and has no timetable for a return, and Caleb Martin has yet to suit up for Dallas after being traded to the team before the deadline.
Jaden Hardy was also injured in the Monday night game against the Kings. With all the recent injuries, Klay Thompson, Naji Marshall, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Olivier-Maxence Prosper are the only players on their roster who are currently healthy and have played at least 40 games this year.
If the Doncic trade wasn’t bad enough for Mavericks fans, things have only gotten worse on a near-weekly basis. Though it was a difficult start to the season, they still looked like a potential title contender with Doncic, Irving, and a healthy rest of their roster. But since then, Dallas is now without their top for scorers for the year, Thompson being the only active player on the team to average at least 13 points a game.
The Mavericks are currently 32-30 and slotted 10th in the Western Conference standings, holding a 3.5-game lead over the Phoenix Suns for the last spot in the Play-In Tournament. Even still, the latest injury suggests that they should look to focus on next season, so don’t expect them to be trying to win out for the remainder of this year.
It looked like the Dallas Mavericks hit rock bottom when the team chose to trade Doncic for Davis before the deadline. Fans outside the arena were chanting in protest and making threats against general manager Nico Harrison. Since then, the team has lost Davis and their other top big men to injury, as well as other rotational players, and Irving has been out since then. Irving was playing at an extremely high level, but the devastating injury now seems like a cruel joke on an already nightmarish season for Dallas fans.
Irving will be out for the rest of the 2024-25 season and a large part of the 2025-26 season, as is typical for an ACL injury. Irving will be going into the last year of a three-year extension he signed with Dallas in 2023, and it is yet to be known how this injury will impact his future with the team.
Irving has been a top-level player since entering the league in 2011, and only twice has he played less than 50 games in a season. At 32, the history of players at Irving’s age suffering an ACL injury doesn’t look great, and it throws into question his future on the Mavericks and the rest of his career.
Davis, Gafford, and Lively are all expected to be reevaluated later this week, but after the news of Irving’s long-term injury, all signs point to the Mavericks not rushing any of them back. Despite currently being in position for the Play-In Tournament, Dallas will most likely look to next season in hopes of a more healthy roster to make another push to the NBA Finals.
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