Kyrie Irving to Miss Mavericks' Final Games

Injured point guard Kyrie Irving is stepping away from the rest of the Dallas Mavericks’ damned 2025-26 season.

Kai is saying bye to the 2025-26 season.

The Dallas Mavericks announced that point guard Kyrie Irving would officially miss the entire 2025-26 season as he continues to recover from ACL surgery sustaining from a March 2025 injury.

“This decision wasn’t easy, but it’s the right one,” Irving said in a statement released by the team. “I am grateful for the Mavericks organization, my teammates and our fans for their continued support throughout the process. I am looking forward to coming back stronger next season. The belief and drive I have inside only grows.”

This morning we announced that Kyrie Irving will not return to play during the 2025-26 NBA season as he continues his recovery from ACL reconstruction surgery performed in 2025.

Can’t wait until you’re back on the court, Kai #MFFL pic.twitter.com/VQPzo8000p

— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) February 18, 2026

Irving’s injury is part of a series of misfortunes that the Mavericks organization has endured since the shocking trade of franchise face Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Doncic trade went down amidst Irving’s third season in Dallas and he has not taken the floor since tearing his ACL just over a month after the deal. Irving opted to stick in North Texas despite the struggles, signing a three-year, $119 million contract with the Mavericks in July.

Irving’s agent and stepmother Shetellia Riley Irving told Shams Charania of ESPN that the de facto shutdown “is about Kyrie being 1,000 percent when he comes back and giving himself the best chance to chase a championship next season.”

Though Irving has continued to play at a high level, to the tune of earning his ninth career All-Star nomination last season, injuries have been a recurring issue. The 2016 champion has not played more than 60 games in a season since the 2018-19 campaign with the Boston Celtics.

Irving Shutdown Another Mavs’ Move Toward the Future

Irving, who turns 34 next month, is expected to be one of the headliners of the Mavericks’ immediate future alongside, the most recent No. 1 NBA Draft pick. For the time being, however, Dallas appears to be further tightening its belt as the Association prepares to return from its All-Star break.

Inching toward spring, the Mavericks (19-35) sit seven games out of a playoff spot. Shutting down Irving is another move that hints at putting a focus toward the future …one that should gain a little extra attention after recent comments from Mark Cuban: on Tuesday, the Mavericks’ minority owner posted a multi-pronged monologue that called for the NBA to “embrace” tanking, a concept that has been at the forefront of the NBA’s debate landscape.

“The NBA has been misguided thinking that fans want to see their teams compete every night with a chance to win. It’s never been that way,” Cuban’s comments read in part. “When I got into the NBA, they thought they were in the basketball business. They aren’t. They are in the business of creating experiences for fans.”

“The NBA should worry more about fan experience than tanking,” Cuban continued. “It should worry more about pricing fans out of games than tanking. You know who cares the least about tanking, a parent who can’t afford to bring their three kids to a game and buy their kids a jersey of their fave player. Tanking isn’t the issue. Affordability and quality of game presentation are.”

Mark Cuban says the NBA should embrace tanking:

“The NBA should worry more about fan experience than tanking. It should worry more about pricing fans out of games than tanking. You know who cares the least about tanking, a parent who can’t afford to bring their 3 kids to a game… pic.twitter.com/O7v1IAO7Hd

— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) February 17, 2026

Though Cuban has taken a bit of a backseat in the Mavs’ daily affairs, it appears they’re embracing what he’s endorsing: prior to the Irving shutdown, the Mavericks traded Anthony Davis to the Washington Wizards as part of a busy trade deadline for the Association in a deal that acquired a hodgepodge of veterans and draft picks respectively headlined by Khris Middleton and a 2026 first-round pick. Davis was the primary yield from the controversial Doncic deal and played but 29 games in a Maverick uniform.

Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags