Jason Kidd defended the Dallas Mavericks against speculation that Kyrie Irving’s increase in minutes could have contributed to his torn ACL. Irving was averaging 39.3 minutes in the 10 games before he was hurt on Monday.
“We’re talking about one play,” Kidd said. “Not many before that. It’s a freak accident, that’s how it should be reported. We’re reporting on conspiracy theories. We want our stars to play. This isn’t supposed to be a rest league.”
Irving was selected to his ninth All-Star team in February.
“Kai is our leader,” Kidd said. “Kai also was playing at a high level; maybe some of the best basketball that he’s played in his career. We can’t talk from both sides and say our stars don’t play enough minutes and guys don’t play enough. They rest. But now we’re saying they play too much.”