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By Matthew Couden
Contributing Writer
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It's been a while since fans have seen NBA champion and nine-time All-Star Kyrie Irving playing basketball, but based on the latest indications, he'll be ready to go when the next season begins.
While on "The Stephen A. Smith Show," ESPN's NBA insider Shams Charania provided an injury return update for the Dallas Mavericks guard, saying, from his understanding, Irving is "fully recovered 100% from that ACL tear from a couple seasons ago."
Charania also indicated that Irving is "fully entrenched in the Mavs' plans this offseason" and that he's had conversations with new head coach Dusty May, new president of the Mavs, Masai Ujiri, and new general manager Mike Schmitz.
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Irving suffered one of the most devastating injuries in sports, a torn ACL, back in March 2025 against the Sacramento Kings. That immediately took him out for the rest of the season, and he missed the entire 2026 NBA season due to his injury recovery.
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Before he went out with an injury, Irving was averaging 24.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 47.3% field goal shooting in the 2024-25 season.
Without Irving last season, the Mavericks struggled for wins, but they did have the encouraging evidence that their No. 1 pick, Cooper Flagg, wasn't a bust. He averaged 21 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.2 steals per game to claim the NBA Rookie of the Year Award.
The Mavs finished at 26-56 with no NBA postseason in sight. They also traded away big man Anthony Davis to the Washington Wizards. During this offseason, Dallas fired head coach Jason Kidd and hired Michigan's Dusty May as their new coach.
Next up, they got better through the NBA Draft, using their No. 9 pick to select May's former Wolverines champion, Morez Johnson Jr., as a key piece of their frontcourt with Flagg.
Additionally, the Mavs acquired Santi Aldama in a trade with the Memphis Grizzlies earlier this month, and former No. 1 pick Zaccarie Risacher in a three-team trade involving the Atlanta Hawks and Oklahoma City Thunder.
All of these moves were meant to further add to the roster in anticipation of their core pieces, Irving and Flagg, being together on the court for a healthy season. If that happens, this might be a team that is pushing towards the postseason, especially as Flagg continues to develop into one of the league's new stars.
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