The Dallas Mavericks are on the cusp of a franchise-altering season where they will welcome in a new era of Dallas basketball as Cooper Flagg makes his professional debut in a few months. With all the hype surrounding Flagg, fans are counting down the days until the season tips off. Despite the excitement, the Mavericks will begin the regular season without a familiar face in their lineup.
Kyrie Irving has long been a fan favorite in his time with the Mavericks despite going through an up-and-down roller coaster throughout his career and tenure in Dallas. From missing the playoffs in his first season with the Mavs to reaching the NBA Finals and then suffering a career-altering knee injury, Irving's time has been filled with peaks and valleys of emotion.
Since tearing his ACL in early March and receiving surgery to repair his knee in early April, Irving has been slated to miss much of next season. While some fans expect Irving to return as soon as January or February, considering his rehab process has gone well, the reality is that Irving could likely miss up to 60 or more games.
Mavericks can't expect all-out production from Irving once he returns
Not only is the average recovery time from a torn ACL 11 months, but Irving could be 34 years old when he makes his return to the hardwood. Irving has, without a doubt, embraced his rehab process and will come out stronger when he does eventually get cleared for basketball activities, but the harsh reality is that Irving may not reach his full potential at all next season.
Assuming Irving does miss more than 60 regular-season games, that gives him around 20 games to get back into basketball shape and also hone in on his skills in about a month and a half. Not only could Irving play fewer than 20 games next season, but fans have to expect he won't play on the second night of back-to-backs so he can reduce the probability of reinjuring himself.
Not only will Irving miss plenty of time as the season begins to gear up for the playoffs, but Irving may not even be scratching his full potential before the playoffs tip off in April. This is not only assuming the Mavericks will be a competitive team when Irving returns, but that likely means his surrounding cast, such as Dereck Lively II and Anthony Davis, have stayed healthy for much of the season.
In Irving's absence, Nico Harrison and the Mavericks signed D'Angelo Russell, who has the perfect opportunity to prove he can be a good guard on a playoff-caliber roster once again. Additionally, the full expectation from Jason Kidd is that Flagg will be handling the rock and running much of the offense while Irving remains sidelined in the hopes that he can be molded into a point-forward type of player.
While the full expectation from fans is for Irving to return to the Mavericks around the All-Star break and the Mavericks to be within the top eight seeds by that time, the reality is, the Mavs will need a lot to break their way for this to be true.
Irving has the potential to return early if his rehab truly is on a faster pace than expected, but the Mavericks must avoid rushing him back to health if they begin to get antsy about wins and losses.
