After Dallas Mavericks All-Star Kyrie Irving suggested the NBA shorten its regular season, he's not opposed to a new event at All-Star Weekend. When Fox One reporter Rachel Nichols asked Irving if he'd be open to seeing the association have a 1-on-1 tournament, he wasn't opposed to the idea.

It's reportedly been discussed as a possibility. For Irving, that could be a sign of it happening in the near future, and he'll be all for it, he said, per Nichols' X, formerly Twitter.

“I'm open to it,” Irving said. “Yeah, when there's smoke, there's fire. That's been that fire with 1-on-1.”

When Nichols suggested NBA players wouldn't be on the same page as Irving in a way of avoiding embarrassment, Kyrie disagreed with that assumption and pointed to the entertainment value for public consumption.

“I don't think anybody's embarrassed,” Irving said. “I just think that there has to be an appreciation there first of what you do because you got to commentate it a little differently than you do 5-on-5. There's an appreciation for seeing a one-view, one matchup that I think goes beyond what the traditional space is now. So, maybe if we create that. I'm with that.”

Kyrie Irving calls for shorter NBA regular season

Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (11) of the Dallas Mavericks talks to media members during the NBA All Star-Practice at Oakland Arena
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After Mavericks All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving reminisced about Game 7 of the 2016 Finals, he suggested the NBA make a significant change to the regular season. Before eventually joining the Mavericks, Irving drained the most important shot in Cleveland Cavs franchise history, securing its only championship in a thrilling best-of-7 series against the Golden State Warriors.

Back at the Warriors' old Oracle Arena for All-Star weekend, Irving was asked what kinds of changes he'd like to see the NBA make. In addition to extending the NBA's All-Star break, Irving also called for the association to shorten the regular season, per ClutchPoints' Jerry Donatien

“Probably a shortened season and a longer break during All-Star,” Irving said.

This isn't the first time someone's suggested the NBA shorten its regular season. The congested 82-game schedule is often taxing on players, which has led many to believe that is what's led to a handful of injured players across 30 NBA teams, especially throughout the 2024-25 campaign. Los Angeles Lakers superstar Luka Doncic missed nearly six weeks after suffering an injury on Christmas Day.

Then, after Doncic was traded to the Lakers in exchange for All-Star center Anthony Davis, the 10-time All-Star suffered a left abductor strain. He's expected to be sidelined for multiple weeks.