The Dallas Mavericks are reportedly optimistic that guard Kyrie Irving will return early from a torn ACL and play a large part in the 2025-26 season.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Irving suffered a torn ACL on March 3 and will miss the remainder of the 2024-25 season. Dallas now hopes that the guard can make a quick return from the injury.
The Mavericks announced on March 26 that Irving underwent successful surgery to repair his ACL, adding that additional updates will be available in the future.
Before the injury, Irving was averaging 24.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.6 assists while shooting 40.1% from the three-point line and an impressive 91.6% from the free-throw line.
Shams Charania of ESPN appeared on NBA Countdown on Wednesday and expressed optimism that Irving will return to the court early next season.
“The expectation around the Dallas Mavericks, Kyrie Irving, is that he will play a good chunk of next season. And there is optimism that he will be back by January,” he explained.
Although the team has not specifically indicated a potential timeline for these injuries, this report from Charania follows standard timelines.
A torn ACL often dictates a recovery time between eight and 12 months, with many high-level athletes returning to the court or field on the lower side of that timeline.
While January would be on the early side of these recovery timelines, Irving may begin to play in short spurts.
Irving will likely begin his season next year on a minutes restriction in an attempt to ramp up his play, but that timeline would allow the guard to be fully healthy by the beginning of the 2025-26 playoffs.
Charania also noted that Dallas would like to re-sign Irving to a new contract at some point in the upcoming offseason, with the expectation that the new deal will align with multiple other key personnel in the organization.
Charania explained that Irving has a $44 million player option in his current contract, which Dallas hopes he declines for a new long-term contract.
“That’s the next situation that Nico Harrison, the Mavericks, will have to deal with and the goal for the Mavericks has been to rip up his player-option and give him a three-year deal, potentially, to align him with Nico Harrison’s three years and Anthony Davis’s three years,” said Charania.
This potential contract would align with General Manager Nico Harrison’s comments in a private meeting earlier this week, in which he said the team has a “three-to-four-year time frame” to win a championship, as previously reported by DX.
Dallas is currently looking to avoid starting the offseason early in comparison to other teams in the league. The Mavericks are preparing for a play-in matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday at 8:30 p.m.