Kyrie Irving said he is close to 100 percent after missing the entire season with a torn ACL, giving Dallas a major update early into the offseason.
Fourteen months after tearing his left ACL against the Sacramento Kings, Kyrie Irving sat down for a Twitch stream Friday and delivered the most significant update of his recovery. The message was direct and it was one Dallas Mavericks fans needed to hear.
“I am definitely close to being over at 100 percent in terms of my ACL recovery,” Irving said. “It’s been a while now. It’s been a year and change.”
Speaking of "change'' ... does this update kill the idea that Dallas should trade Kyrie?
Irving tore his left ACL on March 3, 2025, against Sacramento and underwent reconstructive surgery March 26. He missed the entire 2025-26 season, the first full-season absence of his 15-year NBA career. Before the injury, he was averaging 24.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game across 50 games while playing some of the most efficient basketball of his career alongside a young Dallas roster that later landed Cooper Flagg with the No. 1 overall pick.
What stood out from Friday’s stream was not just the physical update, but how Irving framed the recovery mentally. He did not describe it as something that simply happened to him. He described it as something he has leaned into.
“I’m so grateful that I’ve had the time to heal and just experiment with my body more on the court and off the court in the weight room,” Irving said. “Just pushing myself to the limit, to my own limits.”
That distinction matters. Irving is 34 years old and a torn ACL at that age naturally raises questions about what comes back on the other side. But the recovery timeline for guards who rely on footwork, feel and skill tends to be more forgiving than it is for players whose games are built almost entirely on burst. Irving’s game has always been rooted in touch, angles and manipulation. Those traits do not disappear with a knee injury the same way pure explosiveness can.
Dallas opens training camp in late September and many are dreaming of what a Kyrie Irving and Cooper Flagg pairing might look like.
But ...
Others are dreaming about what Dallas could get by trading Irving as part of the rebuild.
The organizational vision Masai Ujiri and Mike Schmitz are construction depends in large part on what Irving looks like when he returns. Friday’s stream did not answer every question about his future, his role or how quickly he can regain rhythm.
It did answer the most important one: Irving is coming back and he says he is close.
