Kyrie Irving answers whether he will return for playoffs

Kyrie Irving still has a long road to recovery after he suffered a torn ACL in March, and the Dallas Mavericks star does not want to place a firm timeline on his potential return.

During a live stream over the weekend, Irving was asked by a fan if the point guard expects to be back before the playoffs next season. Though the 2025-26 postseason will be more than a year after Irving injured his knee, he did not commit to returning by then.

“Don’t hold your breath on that, you know what I’m saying? It doesn’t mean that I won’t be back. Just, I don’t want to make any predictions on when I’m gonna be back,” Irving said. “I just want to be back 150,000 percent better, so I’m taking my time right now to really get healthy. I’m taking my time to really get my body right, other portions of my body right and really just enjoy this recovery process.

“It’s not pretty. Yes, it is a beautiful struggle, but I go through kind of the mental rollercoaster ride of every day. I just want to be back out there.”