Mavericks Embrace Tanking With Latest Kyrie Irving Injury Announcement

In the offseason, former general manager Nico Harrison said that he thought Irving was ahead of schedule, and in the early part of the season, Jason Kidd said it'd be nice to have him before New Year's. That never happened. Even Marc Spears was of the belief that Irving could have been playing long before now if it were the playoffs and they needed him.

However, most reports seemed to point toward Irving being cleared at some point after the All-Star Break, but that didn't mean he'd play. With the team essentially out of the playoff race, Irving made the decision to sit out the remainder of the season.

Mavericks May Look to Fully Embrace Tanking

The Mavericks were already a bad team, as they've lost 9 straight games for the first time since the 1990s, and sit with a 19-35 record. They're technically not out of the Play-In Tournament mix, but they just traded away Anthony Davis at the trade deadline for a package centered around expiring contracts and draft capital.

This team is competing night in and night out, but the focus has to be about preserving and emphasizing their 2026 first-round pick, as it's the last first-round pick they have control over until 2031. And with how loaded the 2026 Draft class is, they have to maximize it to pair Cooper Flagg with another young star.

Cooper Flagg may also be on the mend for the time being. He suffered a midfoot sprain before the All-Star Break and was seen in a boot at a few games at Duke over the weekend. They will likely tell him to take his time with his recovery, even if he's as competitive as they come.