It’s safe to say the Dallas Mavericks’ season has not gone according to plan this year.
In the span of a little over a month, the Mavs traded away franchise star Luka Doncic, received bad injury news on Dereck Lively II and newly acquired center Anthony Davis and recently saw Kyrie Irving suffer a brutal ACL tear in his left knee that will sideline him for the rest of the season.
Irving suffered the injury early in Monday night’s loss to the Sacramento Kings but bravely still sank two free throws before getting helped off the court.
Mavericks coach Jason Kidd recently clapped back at the theory that Irving’s increased minutes—he played the most minutes across the league from Feb. 4 to March 2—led to the devastating injury.
Klay Thompson was among those wishing his Mavs teammate a swift recovery and also offered his painfully sad thoughts on seeing the nine-time All-Star go down:
“That was really a gut punch, not just for the Dallas Mavericks but for basketball fans around the globe,” Thompson told reporters. “Kyrie’s been our rock this year. It’s like an unfillable void he leaves so we gotta rally around him and we gotta play hard for him. That one hurt, though, seeing him go down like that really sucked. I know he’s going to come back stronger, but in the moment it just really sucks for everybody.”
Asked Klay Thompson about Kyrie Irving’s season-ending ACL injury:
— Mike Curtis (@MikeACurtis2) March 6, 2025
“That was really a gut punch, not just for the Dallas Mavericks but for basketball fans around the globe.” pic.twitter.com/M26o4Ur1YN
Irving was averaging 24.7 points per game prior to the injury and served as the team’s last superstar standing in the wake of the blockbuster Doncic trade. Thompson, who said part of the reason he joined the Mavs last offseason was to play with Irving and Doncic, may have to shoulder a heavier workload in the coming weeks with the team’s bench looking awfully barren this season.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Klay Thompson Had Really Sad Quote on Kyrie Irving’s Season-Ending Knee Injury.
