Kyrie Irving injury update: Mavericks' Jason Kidd 'wouldn't be surprised' if Dallas star makes early return

Irving, 33, tore his ACL in early March

It's been a tumultuous season for the Dallas Mavericks. They traded Luka Doncic, faced daily scrutiny for that decision, missed the playoffs a season after making the NBA Finals, and then landed the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft with the rights to select consensus No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg. There's also the fact that the team lost All-Star guard Kyrie Irving to an ACL tear in early March, not only capsizing this season, but setting them back for a good chunk of next season as well.

An ACL tear on average can take 10-12 months to heal after surgery, though it's already been reported that the Mavericks are optimistic Irving could return by January of next season, which would be 10 months from when he sustained the injury. Mavs coach Jason Kidd echoed that report Monday while appearing on the DLLS Mavericks podcast, too.

"We know [Kyrie] won't be back until January, February, March," Kidd said. "... I didn't want to put a time limit on it, because I don't want to be held to, 'Well you said January,' so we got to give me some leeway there. But knowing [Kyrie], he's going to try to come back soon... As you know he documents everything, so just talking to him, his spirit, he's in the right frame of mind. I wouldn't be surprised if he's back early."

Getting Irving back in January would be a massive boost for Dallas, but he'll also be 34 next March, and a player of that age trying to return too soon from a major injury like an ACL tear comes with risk. Ensuring he doesn't push himself too much for the sake of getting back on the court will be critical for Dallas, and depending on how well they fare without him to start next season may determine how eager the All-Star guard is to get back on the court.

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But regardless of when Irving returns, the Mavericks will for certain be without him for at least the first two months of the season, and with no obvious solution to fill his shoes on the roster, that means Dallas will have to look outside the team to find that temporary replacement.

"Being able to build the roster, maybe looking for a player that can fill that void until he can get back, also a player that can play with [Kyrie], also a player that might not play as much when [Kyrie] comes back," Kidd said. And so being able to look at free agency that way. But again, next man up mentality. If you look at the roster today, understanding Dante [Exum] and Spencer [Dinwiddie], those guys did an incredible job."

Both Exum and Dinwiddie will be free agents this summer, and while they both had their bright spots over the years with the Mavericks, neither feel like a substantial solution to Irving being out for what will likely be half of the regular season. It's been reported that Dallas will look for a point guard to fill in for Irving, either through the trade market or free agency, so we already know it's a priority for the team. But it's a matter of who is a viable option for them. 

Could they get Collin Sexton from the Utah Jazz? Maybe they go back to the Lakers -- yikes -- and see if you could get Austin Reaves for a package centered around Daniel Gafford. That would be a win-win situation, filling needs on both sides, but the Lakers would probably want Dereck Lively II, the younger, more athletic big man with more upside to pair with Doncic. Dallas would have to decide if that's a move it wants to make. Doing business with the Lakers shortly after doing the controversial move to send Doncic there may enrage the fanbase yet again, so perhaps L.A. is off limits.

While Kidd and the Mavericks are optimistic Irving will make an early return, that doesn't solve the problem of not having a starting-caliber point guard on the roster right now. And that's a more pressing issue, especially if Irving isn't able to return to his pre-injury self, or worse, takes longer than expected to get back on the court.