'Eternal Flame' Mavs' Kyrie Irving Offers Candid Admission About NBA Future

DALLAS — Kyrie Irving said this week he does not expect to still be playing in the NBA at 42 or 43.

But at least he's playing.

Irving, 34, talked about the length of his career after practice, two days before the Dallas Mavericks opened the regular season at the Houston Rockets. He turns 35 in March. Wednesday's game was his first in the regular season since he tore his left ACL in March 2025.

And ...

Hey, he made it through healthy.

That's one piece of (rare) good news from Dallas' 128-110 loss at Houston. Irvinf finished with 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting in 24 minutes ... with those minutes set to increase as we go. But ... he had only four points and committed three turnovers in the first half.

That, though, leads to another piece of (still rare) good news: The Rockets said after the game that stopping Kyrie was their primary focus ... meaning they believe he's still "that guy.''

"Kyrie's been out 600 days and our game plan was all him," said Rockets star Kevin Durant who matched Jabari Smith Jr. with a team-high 30 points. "We talked about trapping him. ... Kyrie is that dangerous."

Said Irving: "We've just got to take this one [on] the chin," Irving said. "They put on their boxing gloves and they beat us up pretty good in that second quarter. ... I've got to do a better job of leading us out and just not necessarily playing so timid and getting some shots up and aggressively attacking double-teams."

So ... we move on ...

Cleveland made Irving the first pick of the 2011 draft after one season at Duke. He was 19. He has since played for Boston, Brooklyn, and Dallas.

Irving does not measure his 16 seasons against anyone else's.

“I love those guys, but I don't share the same sentiments as them in certain cases,” Irving said. “I think I've been able to put the NBA in perspective, coming in at 19. Sixteen years, I don't look at it as comparing my years to other people, but just how much love do I still have for it? And it's not just for basketball.

"Basketball is eternal flame. I'm always going to be around it.”

“I love playing outside with my kids, with kids in the park,” Irving continued. “I love being in my backyard, [lowering] the rim, still dunking on people. Some of the little things that people kind of forget about, the small hoops in the house with my cousins, just teaching them the game, small hoop, playing with my son.”

LeBron James, Irving's teammate on the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2014 to 2017, turns 42 on Dec. 30. He is starting a record 24th season, now with the Philadelphia 76ers. Cleveland drafted James first overall in 2003, eight years before it took Irving.

Al Horford, 40, is the only other active player in his 40s. He plays for Golden State.

Stephen Curry is 38 and still with Golden State. He averaged 26.6 points last season. Kevin Durant, Irving's teammate in Brooklyn from 2019 to 2023, turned 38 on Sept. 29. He averaged 26.0 points for Houston last season. James Harden, 37, is with Cleveland.

Irving still loves the playing and the competition.

“But in terms of the NBA schedule and things of that nature, I think you've got to really be in love with that too,” Irving explained. “The weightlifting, the unseen hours, kind of the media prep, just going in and just being ready to play at a high level. And then also you have social media and gambling right now, which is just like running rampant. And it's not the same NBA that I fell in love with as a kid.”

“And I'm very much aware of that,” Irving added. “And I don't say that as a negative thing. It's just when I came in, we were not doing, like, gambling meetings, kind of talking about these things that are going on, social media. Mental health was like this foreign subject, like nobody ever talked about in 2011. So I think the game has changed. It's become less human. It's more robotic.”

Federal prosecutors filed two separate gambling cases in October 2025, one against a head coach in the league and one against a player.

Irving said players in the next generation are making money younger.

“And I think my next few years, I kind of look at it as, like, do I really love that aspect of it?” Irving said. “I love the playing, I love the competition, but do I love all the hoopla that goes into it? And the next generation is looking at it, and they're making money younger. Addictions are running rampant, and I just think I'm fully aware of just my position, and my purpose is bigger than just playing in the NBA.”

“So basketball is an eternal flame,” Irving continued. “It'll always go, but I just don't see myself playing in the NBA at 42, 43. Shout out to the head honcho over there, still going, longevity. And even Steph, James [Harden], KD. Like, I looked at those guys like big brothers for a while. But now that I'm in this age of 34, 35, like, I love my manhood and growing as a man more importantly than just growing as a basketball player.”

Cooper Flagg, the reigning Rookie of the Year, is 19. Irving played alongside him for the first time in Macao on Oct. 11.

With Dwight Powell waived Monday after 12 seasons in Dallas, Irving is now the longest-tenured Maverick. The Mavericks acquired him from Brooklyn on Feb. 6, 2023, sending Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, a 2029 first-round pick, and two second-round picks to the Nets.

Irving won a championship with Cleveland in 2016 and hit the go-ahead 3-pointer late in Game 7 of the Finals against Golden State. He missed all of the 2025-26 season while recovering from the knee injury.

In 2024-25, Irving put up 24.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game over 50 games.

He is under contract through 2027-28 on the three-year, $119 million deal he agreed to in June 2025. The final season is a player option. ... with that "eternal flame'' still burning.