The Dallas Mavericks have been without their injured star all season, and will have to wait longer to see Kyrie Irving return to the court.
The Dallas Mavericks have a lot of future excitement to look forward to around Cooper Flagg as the face of the franchise and the young core expected to be built around him. That vision was solidified by the Mavs’ decision to trade Anthony Davis to the Washington Wizards just one year after acquiring him in a trade haul for Luka Doncic. They are 19-35 and while hopes are centered on next season, there was the thought that Davis, Flagg, and Klay Thompson could manage to keep them on the edge of contention until the All-Star break, eyeing a potential return for point guard Kyrie Irving.
However, that won’t be the case, with ESPN reporting that the All-NBA point guard will miss the rest of the NBA season as he recovers from a torn ACL, rather than try to return for a late playoff push. Irving went down just a few weeks after the Doncic trade, and the team effectively went from contention to not at all. That all changed when they drafted Flagg, but this season didn’t amount to enough for him to potentially rush back his process.
Here is the full story from Mavs Roundtable writer Jonah Kubicek on the unfortunate news out of Dallas.
Irving was just about the only hope for Mavs fans when Doncic was traded and Davis immediately got hurt in his debut with the team. But there’s a lot to look forward to around Flagg. It just won’t tangibly have Irving in it this season. While there have been thoughts to trade him, his veteran presence will be valuable to the young core Dallas plans to draft for the future.