01-08-2026, 07:19 PM
(01-08-2026, 05:42 PM)Smitty Wrote: Kyrie Irving will NOT return before the trade deadline and might NOT play at all this season, per @BannedMacMahon
If that turns out to be accurate, I was way wrong on how the Kyrie injury situation would play out. I thought he would be back in January. Bummer.
It's possible this has some relation to tanking. Or maybe it doesn't. Very hard to read.
One thing we don't know is what Kyrie looks like in practices. Or otherwise behind the scene. But the Mavs know. There could be a huge range of possibilities, as we know he has been doing drills already for months.
The Mavs do need to get a handle on how the Flagg-AD-Kyrie team can compete. If Kyrie is NOT coming back before the TDL, does this mean their approach is "We must wait to see, unless you blow us away with your offer" or do they say "We might as well go ahead and trade AD and whoever else we can"? I'm guessing the former, but who knows.
This also opens the door that if Kyrie is at some point totally shut down for the season, they keep AD but at some point shut him down too and go full youth development and tank. This is something we have seen with other teams who were tanking.