With the start of the 2026-27 NBA season less than two months away, Dallas Mavericks fans have many reasons to be excited. The continued development and ascension of 19-year-old Cooper Flagg is the biggest, but the return of star point guard Kyrie Irving has to be a close second.
It has been quite a while since we’ve seen Irving in action, as he tore his ACL in a game against the Sacramento Kings on March 3, 2025, and has been recovering ever since. Irving could’ve made his return to the court following the NBA Trade Deadline in February, but given how far back the Mavs were in the playoff race at that point, there was simply no reason to rush him back. Now, though, the nine-time All-Star and future Hall of Famer looks to be 100 percent again and ready to hit the ground running when the season gets underway in late October.
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In a video that surfaced on social media earlier this week, Irving was seen putting on a show with his patented wizardry in an offseason open run. Obviously, we’ll have to see how Irving looks when real NBA games get here, but based on how he’s gliding around these open-run courts with ease, that has to give the fan base some added hope for what this upcoming season could potentially become. Right now, most critics aren’t expecting much out of Dallas this year, but with Flagg taking the next big step toward superstardom and Irving looking like this? You can’t tell me good things can’t happen if both of those guys can stay healthy.
On a recent episode of Curious Mike, Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr. gave his thoughts on Irving after recently playing in some of those open runs with him.
“I was hooping with [Kyrie] yesterday, and this is off of his ACL. That dude was so cold, bro,” Porter said. “I couldn’t believe how he was moving out there… Bro, it was nutty. It was crazy.”
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Irving is 34 years old and has an extensive and well-documented injury history throughout his career, but his last ACL injury was more of a freak deal than anything else, so the hope is that he can avoid that kind of misfortune here in the latter portion of his NBA career. In 128 games played over three years in Dallas, Irving has averaged 25.5 points, 4.4 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.3 steals while shooting 49 percent overall, including 40.4 percent from deep and 91.7 percent from the free-throw line. If the Mavs can even get 75-80 percent of that kind of production in 60-plus games from Irving in 2026-27, they should end up being in better shape in the standings than many are projecting.
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