The Dallas Mavericks (32-32) are a magnet for ridicule right now, as the team continues to suffer in the post-Luka Doncic era. Many fans believe that the trade initiated a cataclysmic sequence of events, one that includes Kyrie Irving suffering a torn ACL versus the Sacramento Kings on March 3.

A theory is floating around that the star point guard's increased usage resulted in him sustaining the season-ending injury. He is challenging that notion, however.

“Too many minutes???” Irving posted on Instagram. “Or did I get knocked off balance?” Since the Mavs traded his backcourt mate Luka Doncic in February, the 32-year-old guard was averaging an NBA-high 39.3 minutes per contest (more than three minutes per game than he was previously playing). Fatigue can lead to body imbalance, but Irving is seemingly contending that he lost his footing because he was fouled while driving to the basket.

This stance echoes what Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd said after the devastating news broke. He called the injury a freak accident and rejected the idea that the minutes increase caused the incident. Kidd even mentioned that Irving himself embraced the heavy workload.

Can the Mavericks carry on?

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The 2016 NBA champion and nine-time All-Star has a dense injury history during his 14-year career, so perhaps this was inevitable. Though, the very fact that Irving is hurt so frequently does make one wonder why the Mavericks did not bring in someone to help ease his burden after they sent Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. Or, as many will argue, they could have just hung on to the Slovenian superstar in the first place.

There is no point in looking in the rear-view mirror anymore, however. Dallas will not be able to escape the criticism for as long as Doncic and LA are prospering, but the players must do their best to block out all the noise and focus on the task at hand.

Regardless of how bleak the future might currently seem, the fact remains that the Mavs still own the final NBA Play-In Tournament slot in the Western Conference. It would be extremely difficult to win two road games without the dynamic Kyrie Irving leading the way, but the squad still has a chance to sneak into the playoffs. And hope, however fleeting it may be, is something this fan base desperately needs.

The severely shorthanded Mavericks will try to end a four-game losing streak when it next faces the visiting Phoenix Suns, the team that currently sits two and a half games behind them for 10th place in the West. Although Irving is not on the floor, he is surely doing everything in his power to inspire this adversity-stricken group.