Kyrie Irving’s season is over. The Dallas Mavericks star point guard tore his ACL in their 122-98 loss against the Sacramento Kings on Monday. The team confirmed Irving’s diagnosis Tuesday.
The injury occurred when Irving attempted a Euro step. The 32-year-old was fouled by DeMar DeRozan on a drive to the basket and his right foot landed on the foot of the Kings’ Jonas Valanciunas. Irving lost his balance and then landed awkwardly on his left leg, and his knee appeared to hyperextend before he fell to the floor.
Injured forward Anthony Davis helped Irving to the locker room before the point guard abruptly returned to the floor to shoot two free throws with tears rolling down his cheeks.
After converting both foul shots to pull Dallas within 23-18, Irving was helped into the tunnel with his arms wrapped around the shoulders of injured teammate Dereck Lively and an assistant coach. He was ruled out soon after with what was called a knee sprain, and is now officially an ACL tear.
Irving’s decision to shoot free throws was reminiscent of the late Kobe Bryant, who made two game-tying foul shots for the Los Angeles Lakers after tearing his Achilles tendon late in the fourth quarter of a victory over Golden State on April 12, 2013.
“That’s just who, I mean, Kai’s a tough guy,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. “I asked him as they were taking him off the court, ‘Are you good if you leave without shooting? You’re ruled out.’ So they took him to the free-throw line, and he shot the free throws and then we got him out.”
Irving had seven points in nine minutes on Monday prior to the injury. He came into the night averaging 25 points and 4.7 assists across 49 games this season. His importance to the Mavericks’ overall success increased when the team traded superstar Luka Doncic to the Lakers as Irving was left as the only perimeter shot-creator.
His availability and consistency became even more paramount after Dallas was hit with the injury bug and lost Davis, Lively, Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington. Lively sustained a stress fracture in his right ankle in January. Davis, a 10-time All-Star, suffered an adductor strain on Feb. 9 in his debut for Dallas after being acquired in the Doncic trade. Gafford sprained his right knee on Feb. 10, and Washington returned from an ankle injury on Saturday but had a setback in that game against the Milwaukee Bucks.
After Irving’s injury against the Kings, backup guard Jaden Hardy exited with a sprained right ankle.
The Mavericks (32-30) sit in 10th place in the NBA’s Western Conference, which is the final spot in the play-in tournament. They are 3.5 games ahead of the 11th-place Phoenix Suns and four games in front of the 12th-place Portland Trail Blazers. With Irving out the remainder of the season, and the exact return date for their other injured key players, the door is open for Dallas to be leap-frogged.
Irving, who earned his ninth All-Star appearance as an injury replacement this season, has a $44 million player option for next season. He would figure to be in the final stages of recovery when teams report for training camp for the 2025-26 season.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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