The Dallas Mavericks have gotten off to a rough start to the 2025 NBA season, currently sitting at 2-4 after a recent loss to the Detroit Pistons. Rookie Cooper Flagg has been up and down so far in the very early portion of his career, and the team recently lost Anthony Davis due to injury.
Joining Davis on the sidelines is star point guard Kyrie Irving, who tore his ACL toward the end of last season and is expected to rejoin the lineup at some point this year.
Recently, Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd hinted that Irving's return could come sooner than some may expect.
“We just can’t wait to get Kai back at some point,” Kidd said recently, per Christian Clark of The Athletic. “Hopefully it’s in the year ’25, not ’26. But we’ll see what happens.”
Irving was tasked with doing a monumental amount of heavy lifting for the Mavericks last year in the wake of the disastrous Luka Doncic trade, with Davis going down with an injury shortly after that occurred. Some blamed that increased workload for the injury he ultimately suffered, effectively ending any chance that the Mavericks had of competing last year.
Strange times for the Mavericks
Meanwhile, all eyes have been on Cooper Flagg to start this season. The number one pick has had some expected growing pains but has also put up some big stat lines and made highlight plays early on in his NBA tenure.
If Irving is indeed able to return to the lineup within the next two months and Davis comes back soon, it's not out of the question that the Mavericks could make some noise in the West. However, there are real concerns about Dallas' depth at the current moment, especially as Klay Thompson suffers through a horrid start to his age 35 season.
In any case, the Mavericks are set to next take the floor on Monday evening against the Houston Rockets. That game will tip off at 8:00 PM ET.
