Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving, who tore his left ACL in early March, provided a minor update on his recovery process during a live Twitch stream earlier this week, as Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal relays.
“I was in the gym doing a little bit more,” Irving said (Twitter video link via All Things Mavs). “I won’t tell you exactly what I was doing because it’s all about incremental growth, but I can share with y’all (that) it was some good days in the gym. I’m healing up great. To this date (August 26), this will be five months post-surgery.”
Irving, 33, had taken on increased ball-handling and play-making responsibilities in the wake of the Mavericks’ Luka Doncic trade last season and was averaging 24.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game on .473/.401/.916 shooting through 50 outings when he went down with the season-ending injury.
Irving became eligible for free agency this offseason when he declined his $43MM option, but he didn’t seriously test the market, opting to sign a new three-year, $118.5MM deal to remain in Dallas.
Reporting back in April indicated that the Mavericks were optimistic about Irving’s chances of returning to the court sometime early in 2026, and president of basketball operations Nico Harrison suggested in July that the star guard is “ahead of schedule” in his rehab process.
However, Harrison has also made it clear that the team won’t rush Irving back to the court, and the nine-time All-Star has preached patience as well, cautioning in July that there’s no guarantee he’ll be 100% healthy before the end of the 2025/26 regular season.
“That doesn’t mean I won’t be back,” Irving said at the time. “It’s just — I don’t want to make any predictions on when I’m going to be back. I just want to be back 150,000% better.”
With Irving sidelined, the Mavs are expected to lean on guards D’Angelo Russell, Brandon Williams, Dante Exum, and Jaden Hardy, while frontcourt players like Anthony Davis and Cooper Flagg likely initiate the offense more frequently too.