Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd has dismissed any connection between Kyrie Irving’s season-ending injury and increased playing time.
The Hall-Of-Fame point guard turned coach appears to have noticed a trending online discussion about Irving. It circles around Irving averaging 39.3 minutes per game in the 10 games leading up to the injury. Dallas has been forced to lean on the 32-year-old point guard even more in the absence of Anthony Davis.
“We’re talking about one play,” Kidd said. “Not many before that. It’s a freak accident, that’s how it should be reported. We’re operating on conspiracy theories. We want our stars to play. This isn’t supposed to be a rest league.”
Irving has been ruled out for the remainder of the season as the result of a torn ACL in his left knee.
Flaw In Irving Injury Theory?
While it’s true Irving averaged 39.3 minutes in the 10 previous games, there is an important bit of context that needs to be considered.
Five of those games came prior to the All-Star break, giving Irving nearly a week’s rest in the middle of those 10 games. The injury occurred on a drive to the basket, when he planted his left foot on the gather.
If an entirely different argument wants to be made about Irving playing too many minutes on the season as a whole then that’s a debate for another day. It’s worth remembering that Irving averaged 37.4 minutes per game in the 2022-23 season when he played 60 games and 35 minutes per game in 58 games last season.
Irving averaged 36 minutes per game this season and played in 50 games.
Kidd further expanded that criticism can’t be both ways where players are bashed for sitting and coaches for playing players too much.
“Kai is our leader. Kai also was playing at a high level; maybe some of the best basketball that he’s played in his career. We can’t talk from both sides and say our stars don’t play enough minutes and guys don’t play enough. They rest. But now we’re saying they play too much.”
Mavs Short On Bodies
What there is no debate about is that Dallas is struggling for bodies on the floor right now.
In addition to superstars Irving and Davis, the Mavs are without Dereck Lively II, Daniel Gafford, Kai Jones, and now Jaden Hardy.
Only eight players were healthy enough to be active against the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night.
