This is devastating news for the reeling Dallas Mavericks. And hoops fans everywhere.
Kyrie Irving has suffered a torn ACL from a fall Monday night and is out for the remainder of this season (and the start of next season), a story broken by Shams Charania of ESPN and confirmed by multiple reports.
Irving suffered the injury in the first quarter Monday night when he drove to the rim against Sacramento. He was fouled by DeMar DeRozan, and, as he started to go up for a shot, his right foot landed on the foot of Kings center Jonas Valanciunas. Irving then seemed to hyperextend his knee. That sent Irving to the floor, grabbing his leg, where he stayed for several minutes.
Irving remained in the game and took his two free throws before needing help — including from injured center Anthony Davis — to get back to the locker room. He did not return to the game.
Irving is averaging 25 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game this season for the Mavericks. After the Doncic trade, he was thrust into the role of primary shot creator on the roster, which he has handled well, and he was playing almost 40 minutes a night since the trade.
Luka Doncic, the former Maverick and Irving’s “hermano,” reacted to the news on social media.
Mavericks injuries
The Mavericks have been decimated by injuries — they have lost 227 player games to injuries this season. The Mavericks were 19-10 and sitting as the No. 4 seed in the West heading into Christmas Day when Luka Doncic suffered a strained calf and was out from then until the team traded him near the February deadline. With all the injuries piled on top of that, Dallas has gone 13-20 since then.
Dallas is currently without all three of its centers because of injuries. Anthony Davis, the All-NBA big man traded for Doncic, suffered a strained adductor (groin) in his first game in a Dallas uniform and remains out with no timetable for a return. Dereck Lively II (right ankle stress fracture) and Daniel Gafford (Grade 3 right MCL sprain) also remain out.
Jaden Hardy also went down in Monday’s game and will miss time with a sprained ankle, Chris Haynes reports. Caleb Martin just went down to the Mavericks’ G-League affiliate on a rehab assignment but should be back with the big club soon.
Mavericks playoff hopes
Dallas had already fallen off sharply due to injuries (and trading away Doncic) and had fallen to the No. 10 seed in the West, the final play-in spot.
The 32-30 Mavericks have a 3.5-game lead over the struggling Suns for the final play-in spot. The team to watch could be Portland, which is four games back but has been playing much better basketball lately. If the Mavericks fall off sharply, the Trail Blazers could make a push for the final play-in spot.
If Dallas holds on to the No. 10 seed it would have a long road to the actual playoffs, needing to win two games on the road against quality teams to get there. For example, if the postseason started today, Dallas would travel to Minnesota to take on Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves. If the Mavericks won that game, they would board a flight to California to face the loser of the Kings vs. Clippers game and need to win that game as well.
The reward for that would be the No. 8 seed and a first-round matchup with MVP frontrunner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
What is the recovery timetable for a torn ACL?
Recovery time from an ACL injury varies from nine months to a year, which would keep Irving out not only for the remainder of this season but also for the start of the next one (and maybe more than half of that season).
Kyrie Irving injury history
Like many smaller guards known for driving into the lane and getting to the rim, Irving has suffered his share of injuries over the course of his 15-season NBA career.
The most notable of those now was the fractured patella (kneecap) in his left knee, the same one where he has the torn ACL. The fractured kneecap came in Game 1 of the 2015 NBA Finals against Stephen Curry and the Warriors, putting Irving out for the remainder of the series. while the Cavaliers won games two and three in those Finals, the Warriors went on to take the crown.
That knee injury resurfaced a few years later, in March 2018, when Irving was in his first season with the Boston Celtics. Irving had to get season-ending surgery where doctors removed screws from his knee put in with the initial surgery, screws which were causing pain, and there was concern about infection. Irving did not play in the Celtics postseason.
Irving has faced a number of other injuries, including a facial fracture in his first months in Boston in November of 2017, and Irving had to play in a mask for some time. In his first season in Brooklyn (2019-20), Irving was bothered by a right shoulder injury that had him miss time from mid-November to January that season. He tried to return but in February ultimately chose to have season-ending surgery. Then, in 2021, he suffered a severe ankle sprain in the Eastern Conference semi-finals against Milwaukee and was out for the remainder of that postseason (James Harden also missed time that playoffs due to injury). The Nets ultimately lost to the Bucks in seven games (and Milwaukee went on to win the title).
If you want to go way back, Irving missed most of his one season at Duke due to a toe injury.
