{"id":610703,"date":"2026-02-19T01:16:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T01:16:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/610703\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T01:16:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T01:16:23","slug":"the-mavericks-officially-shut-down-kyrie-irving-heres-why-its-a-good-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/610703\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mavericks officially shut down Kyrie Irving. Here\u2019s why it\u2019s a good decision"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kyrie Irving<\/a> used his time during NBA All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles to connect with fans and his peers<\/a>, while live-streaming most of his experiences.<\/p>\n

The Mavericks<\/a> star point guard hinted Saturday on a video stream that an update on his recovery from a torn left ACL would be provided once the All-Star break concluded.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the Mavericks officially announced Irving will not play during the 2025-26 season<\/a> as he continues to recover from surgery performed in 2025, ending the rampant speculation regarding his playing status.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis decision wasn\u2019t easy, but it\u2019s the right one,\u201d Irving said in a prepared statement.<\/p>\n

Mavericks<\/p>\n

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Irving is right. The decision to shut down a midseason return is the right choice for several reasons, but most notably to preserve his long-term health. Delaying his return also increases the Mavericks\u2019 chances to secure the highest possible lottery position<\/a> for this summer\u2019s NBA draft.<\/p>\n

The Mavericks (19-35) will come out of the All-Star break completely out of the postseason picture, sitting in 12th place in the Western Conference. They are one win and three losses behind Utah for the sixth-best odds in May\u2019s draft lottery.<\/p>\n

Adding Irving\u2019s elite offensive talents to the mix of a floundering Mavericks team would make them more competitive than they probably should be since this draft is the final one in which they control their own first-round pick until 2031.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been nearly a year since Irving suffered his devastating injury on March 3, 2025, three weeks before his 33rd birthday. ACL surgery can take anywhere from nine to 12 months to heal following surgery, depending on the individual and severity of the injury.<\/p>\n

At the time of Irving\u2019s injury, he was playing at an All-NBA level, averaging 24.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.6 assists with efficient shooting splits of 47.3% from the field, 40.1% from 3 and 91.6% from the free throw line.<\/p>\n

The Mavericks veteran will be 34 by the time the 2026-27 season begins in October, with nearly 600 days between games. The layoff will be extensive, and it\u2019s unclear if that level of production will be immediately replicable, but it\u2019s plenty of time for Irving to make a full recovery without the burden of expectations to return to a team that isn\u2019t competing for the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am grateful for the Mavericks organization, my teammates and our fans for their continued support throughout the process,\u201d Irving said.<\/p>\n

The decision to keep Irving sidelined was anticipated, given the franchise turning the page with the midseason trade of Anthony Davis<\/a> to prioritize the development of Cooper Flagg<\/a>, their teenage sensation who\u2019s positioned to take the reins of the franchise. The Mavericks forward has 28 games left in his sensational rookie season to further develop his game. The revamped front office could also use this time to evaluate who fits alongside Flagg and Irving for the future.<\/p>\n

While it would\u2019ve been beneficial for Irving and Flagg to get a head start on their on-court chemistry, the cautious approach with the veteran prevents him from possibly re-injuring a left knee that\u2019s undergone multiple surgeries through his 15-year career.<\/p>\n

The Mavericks said Irving will continue his rehabilitation under the supervision of the team\u2019s medical and performance staff and will remain engaged with the team, which isn\u2019t a surprise given his constant presence during practices, shootarounds and games this season.<\/p>\n

It will be a while, but Irving should be able to participate in those on-court activities in 2026-27.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am looking forward to coming back stronger next season,\u201d he said. \u201cThe belief and drive I have inside only grows.\u201d<\/p>\n

X: @MikeACurtis2<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>Mavericks\u2019 Jason Kidd is expanding his elite girls basketball program to Dallas<\/a><\/p>\n

Called Jason Kidd Select South, the program is designed to develop and elevate elite female athletes while increasing access and opportunity across the region.<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>Kyrie Irving to sit out rest of Dallas Mavericks season, team announces<\/a><\/p>\n

Irving will not return to play during the 2025-26 season as his recovery from ACL surgery performed last year continues.<\/p>\n

Find more Mavericks coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kyrie Irving used his time during NBA All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles to connect with fans and his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3793],"tags":[7,686,149,4057,15161,967,166,6,66],"class_list":["post-610703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas-mavericks","tag-basketball","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-mavericks","tag-dallasmavericks","tag-injury-update","tag-kyrie-irving","tag-mavericks","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116094659631588679","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}