Dec 15, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (11) reacts after suffering an injury during the fourth quarter against the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Mavericks' brutal offense may force them to make risky Kyrie Irving decision

Originally posted on Dallas Mavericks on SI
By Austin Veazey | Last updated Oct 23, 2025 3:00 PM ET

The Dallas Mavericks have started the season 0-1 after an opening night 125-92 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday, and it was a brutal showing, especially offensively. First overall pick Cooper Flagg looked a little lost as he played point guard for the first time in his life, the shot-taking and making was lackluster, and there was a lot of isolation basketball from a team that shouldn't be playing isolation.

Dallas does have a great point guard on the roster, Kyrie Irving. but he's still recovering from the ACL tear he sustained back in March. There's never been a timeline established for when he should returned sine Shams Charania tweeted soon after his surgery that he could be back in January. Jason Kidd has played coy with any type of timeline, but the videos that have come out with Irving working out look great.

And then, during Wednesday's game against the Spurs, the broadcast team revealed that Irving could be re-evaluated around Thanksgiving.

"We were talking earlier about Jason Kidd being encouraged by Kyrie's progress coming back from the torn ACL, saying he's doing a lot of the non-contact stuff with us, looks incredible, shooting, passing, running. Said we're going to have to make sure we don't push too hard over the next few weeks, and around Thanksgiving time, things could [change]."

Kyrie Irving is doing non contact drills with team and is going to be back around Thanksgiving! Thank you God pic.twitter.com/fUac9tkQKG
— Kyrie’s Tribeman (@NevaMiss24) October 23, 2025

Rushing Kyrie Irving Back Would Be a Mistake

As badly as this team needs quality point guard play, rushing Kyrie Irving back is the last thing they should do. He tore his ACL in early March, then didn't have surgery until the end of the month. Even a return date of around Christmas would only be nine months, which feels real early for a smaller guard who relies on his speed and quickness.

They cannot rush him back and risk further injury. Irving has said himself that he won't return to action until he's fully ready, but it's not like the Mavericks' training staff has the best history recently, even if a lot of that was turned over during the offseason.

Dallas needs offense in the worst way, though. No other NBA teams scored fewer than 104 points in regulation of the season opener, and the Mavs only had 92. There was no purpose on offense, no shooting, no passing, and no flash. Irving will help with all of that, but only once he's fully ready.

This article first appeared on Dallas Mavericks on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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