On paper, the Dallas Mavericks would appear to have a contending roster in the Western Conference. With the arrival of No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg, it’s almost enough to erase the bad taste left by the Luka Doncic trade last season. But Mavericks fans are going to have to wait to see their team at full strength as Kyrie Irving continues his injury rehab from a torn ACL suffered last season.

While Kyrie Irving is still sidelined due to injury, he’s still been an integral part of Mavericks’ training camp and preseason, coaching up Brandon Williams alongside assistant coach Phil Handy during a recent practice, as observed by Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News.

With Irving in the lineup, the Mavericks’ ceiling becomes that much higher. Irving suffered the ACL injury back in March and was out for the rest of the season. The Mavericks ended up rallying to make the play-in, defeating the Sacramento Kings in the opening round, before falling to the Memphis Grizzlies.

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Irving currently does not have a concrete timetable for his return, and at the start of training camp, Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd slammed an erroneous report that suggested Irving was ahead of schedule in his recovery.

The nine-time All-Star was originally acquired by the Mavericks via the traded deadline during the 2022-23 season. Although the team failed to to make the playoffs upon his arrival, Irving played a major role during the Mavericks’ 2023-24 run to the NBA Finals.

Before the injury last season, Irving had appeared in 50 games for the Mavericks at a little over 36 minutes per game. He had been averaging 24.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.3 steals with splits of 47.3 percent shooting from the field, 40.1 percent shooting from the three-point line and 91.6 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

The Mavericks will open the 2025-26 season on Wednesday, Oct. 22 at home against the San Antonio Spurs.