The Mavericks have had a rocky season, but they came through on Wednesday night when they beat the Kings in the Play-In Tournament to avoid elimination.
Dallas will now play the Grizzlies on Friday night with the chance to make the playoffs this weekend. However, Dallas is moving forward without Kyrie Irving, as the team's best players is unavailable for the rest of the season due to injury.
Losing Irving was a tough break for the Mavericks, who tried to remake their team around Irving when they traded Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis. Now, the team is more reliant on Davis as they await Irving's return.
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Ahead of the Mavericks' sudden death game in Memphis, here is why Irving is not playing.
Where is Kyrie Irving?
Kyrie Irving suffered a season-ending knee injury in March when he tore the ACL in his left leg during a game against the Kings. The point guard had played in 50 games this season when the injury occurred and before he had surgery to repair his ACL.
Therefore, the Mavericks are trying to make a playoff run without their best player. When Dallas traded Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis, among others, the team believed Irving would be able to carry the offensive load it was losing.
Both Irving and Davis had injury issues since the trade occurred, leading to the Mavericks settling for making the Play-In tournament as a No. 10 seed.
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When will Kyrie Irving return?
Typically, an ACL surgery requires eight-12 months of recovery, but the Mavericks are hoping that Irving will be back on the shorter end of his recovery. ESPN's Shams Charania reports Dallas has hopes that Irving will be able to return by January of 2026, which would allow him to potentially play in the majority of the 2025-26 season.
While Irving is older than the average NBA player at 32 years-old, he is still young enough where he can reach that timetable.
"Thirty-two is not that old. There's different types of ACL reconstructions," Dr. Derek Ochiai told Sporting News' Steph Noh in March. "They've all been shown to have high efficacy. The rehab is a drag, and it's a hard rehab to go through. But a lot of times, the knee is nearly as good as it was before it was injured."
While Irving has had his fair share of injuries throughout his career, this is the first time the veteran guard has torn the ACL in either of his knees.
Kyrie Irving injury history
Throughout his 14-year career, Irving has had a variety of injuries that he has battled. Irving has missed at least seven games in every season, as he's played at over 70 games just three times in 14 years.
The veteran point guard has had several different injuries and not necessarily trouble with one specific issue. Irving has had injuries to his toe, ankle, knees, shoulder, hamstring, finger and kneecap, along with missing 35 games while in COVID protocol in 2021-22.
Irving's torn ACL is also the second time that he's undergone season-ending knee surgery. In 2018, he had left knee surgery that forced him to miss the postseason, which was in part due to an injury that he suffered years earlier.