Dallas Mavericks star guard Kyrie Irving suffered an injury while driving the ball in the first quarter of the team’s loss to the Sacramento Kings on Monday. He then shot a pair of free throws before he exited the game and didn’t return.
the injury pic.twitter.com/7MsOc1EEgf
— MavsHighlights (@MavsHighlights) March 4, 2025
Kyrie Irving (left knee sprain) will not return to tonight's game against the Kings.
— Mavs PR (@MavsPR) March 4, 2025
Unfortunately, Irving went down with quite a serious injury, as according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, he has a torn ACL in his left knee and will be sidelined for the remainder of the 2024-25 campaign.
Breaking: Dallas Mavericks All-Star Kyrie Irving has suffered a season-ending torn ACL in his left knee, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/VEgTU6iF6S
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 4, 2025
In light of the injury update on Irving, two of his former teammates, Los Angeles Lakers stars Luka Doncic and LeBron James, sent prayers to the 32-year-old. James responded with a post on X, while Doncic responded via Instagram.
Former Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Dončić reacts to an Instagram post about Kyrie Irving's knee injury. pic.twitter.com/N1PrGgSaiq
— Grant Afseth (@GrantAfseth) March 4, 2025
Luka on IG
“You will come back stronger mi hermano!❤️”
📸Luka IG pic.twitter.com/xE6BqS77qC
— Mavs Film Room 🐴🎥 (@MavsFilmRoom) March 4, 2025
Prayers sent up to Ky 🧙🏾🤞🏾!!! 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
— LeBron James (@KingJames) March 4, 2025
James and Irving were teammates on the Cleveland Cavaliers for several seasons and were pillars of one of the more memorable eras in franchise history. Cleveland reached three consecutive NBA Finals with the two in the fold, and they were both instrumental to the team’s title run in 2016.
Conversely, Doncic and Irving were partners in crime not that long ago. The Slovenian was a member of the Mavericks alongside Irving this season up until he was dealt to the storied Lakers franchise last month. Plus, he and Irving helped the Mavericks reach the NBA Finals a year ago, which marked just their third appearance in the championship series in franchise history.
Now that Irving’s season is over, Doncic, James and the Lakers arguably have one less team to worry about in the Western Conference in the 2025 NBA Playoffs. It’s difficult to imagine that the Mavericks have another deep playoff run in them later this year now that Doncic is a member of the Lakers and Irving is down for the count.
The Mavericks and Lakers will face off one more time before the end of the 2024-25 regular season. Doncic will have a chance to return to American Airlines Center when the Lakers square off against his former team on April 9. Doncic played against the Mavericks for the first time as a Laker late last month.
