Kyrie Irving going down with an ACL tear that wiped out his season was a tragic blow for him, the Dallas Mavericks, and the NBA in general. When Anthony Davis eventually returned from his injury, the Mavs were expected to join the West’s top teams for championship contention. Now, not only is his this year washed away, but next season, too, is in doubt. After Kyrie’s season fate was diagnosed, a narrative quickly arose through the media insinuating the injury was caused by increased stress on his body. However, if you ask Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd, Kyrie’s injury had nothing to do with the uptick in workload. It’s a narrative the veteran head coach refutes passionately, calling it a conspiracy theory.
Mavericks’ Jason Kidd Refutes ‘Conspiracy Theory’ Injury Narrative
Dallas Mavericks HC Jason Kidd Passionately Pushes Back On Kyrie Irving’s Minutes Narrative
According to Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News, Kidd labels Kyrie’s ACL as a freak injury rather than anything else. Irving saw a significant uptick in playing time over the last two months since Luka Dončić went down with injury on Christmas Day. His workload didn’t get any lighter even after the trade when Anthony Davis also suffered his own injury. With a severely depleted roster, especially at the center and forward positions, the Mavericks have had to lean on Kyrie more than ever. So, when a narrative began to spin, it further painted a bad picture of the organization and Kidd. He didn’t take it kindly, and responded to the speculation.
“The load didn’t have anything to do with the injury. We’re talking about one play. It’s a freak accident. That’s how it should be reported, but we’re not reporting it right. We’re reporting on conspiracy theories. We want our stars to play as many minutes [as possible],” Kidd continued. “This isn’t supposed to be a ‘rest’ league. Kai is our leader. Kai was playing [high] minutes. He also was playing at a high level, maybe some of the best basketball that he’s played in his career. And it’s all right to play 40 minutes. We can’t talk from both sides and say that our stars don’t play enough minutes or guys don’t play enough.”
Furthermore, Kidd explained that Irving accepted the significant increase in minutes and was well-conditioned enough to do it. It’s clear that Kidd isn’t buying the “we’re running our players into the ground” notion. Nevertheless, whatever caused Kyrie’s injury—a freak accident or workload—it doesn’t do much to speculate further. Dallas is without its leader, and their playoff chances have all but fallen off the cliff.
Shut Them All Down
Dallas has good enough reason to close the doors on a playoff push with less than 20 games remaining in the season. Several NBA analysts, such as ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith and Kendrick Perkins, have suggested that the Mavs shut down Davis, Daniel Gafford, and Dereck Lively for the rest of the season. This would allow all three to focus on the recovery process going into the offseason and all through the summer. This road might be best to take for the long haul. Even if all three big men return before the playoffs, A) the Mavs might have fallen too far down the standings by then. B) Without Kyrie, they have no chance of success anyway.
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