Irving injury blow to once proud franchise

By David Mullen

It took 67 days for the Dallas Mavericks to go from a team contending for a second consecutive visit to the NBA Finals to completely unrecognizable. 

The watershed moment arrived in the first quarter of a 122-98 loss to the Sacramento Kings on March 4 at the American Airlines Center. Mavs guard Kyrie Irving, playing empowered since the shocking February 1 trade of Luka Doncic, drove the lane, was fouled and landed on the foot of Sacramento’s Jonas Valanciunas.

Irving, writhing in pain with tears running down his cheeks, made both free throws, was helped from the foul line to the locker room and was later diagnosed with a torn ACL. Irving is lost for the remainder of the 2024-25 NBA season. He joins Anthony Davis, acquired from Los Angeles in the Doncic deal, centers Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford, guards Dante Exum and Jaden Hardy and recently acquired Caleb Martin unable to play. But no setback is as serious as Irving’s.

The injury puts in question the future success of the 32-year-old Irving. It is difficult for a high caliber NBA player to recover from knee surgery. Irving, who came to Dallas with a checkered past, has been a model player for a previously model franchise. With the loss of their best remaining player, the Mavericks have gone from potential champion to hopeless losers in just 67 days.  

On December 27, 2024, the Mavs completed a nine-point victory over Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns to raise their season record to 20-11. They were in fourth place in the Western Conference, but just 1.5 games from second place and five games behind the streaking Oklahoma City Thunder. Doncic was out with a calf injury, but the Mavs still had plenty of firepower with Klay Thompson, Daniel Gafford, P.J. Washington, Naji Marshall and Spencer Dinwiddie.

After the loss to the Kings 67 days later, the Mavs are in the 10th and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Even if they stave off a chaotic Suns team, the unknown Portland Trailblazers or the young San Antonio Spurs playing without Victor Wembanyama for the remainer of the season and gain the final playoff spot, Dallas will be “one-and-done” in a postseason play-in game.

In the history of Dallas sports teams, there have been many highs and many lows. Some emotions were fueled by shock, some by surprise and some by fate. But what has happened to the Mavericks is nearly inexplicable.

On January 10, 1983, on a crisp afternoon at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, wide receiver Dwight Clark rose upward like a cable car to the stars to grab a pass from quarterback Joe Montana and secure an impossible 28-27 win by the previously unknown San Francisco 49ers over the star laden Dallas Cowboys.

The 49ers would go on to win their first Super Bowl in franchise history two weeks later in the Pontiac Silverdome with a 26–21 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. While the loss to the youthful 49ers was shocking, the Cowboys would recover a decade later, winning three Super Bowls in a four-year span.

Coming off a Stanley Cup Championship in 1999, the Dallas Stars returned to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2000 against the New Jersey Devils. But the Stars, exhausted after a difficult playoff run, lost in six games, culminated by a 2-1 loss in the second overtime period. After financial problems, a series of bad seasons and key injuries leading to restructured rosters, the 2025 Stars are on solid ice and poised for a second Stanley Cup Championship in franchise history.   

After reaching their first World Series in 2010 and losing to the San Francisco Giants in five games, the Texas Rangers led the 2011 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals 3 games to 2. With two outs and two strikes and leading 8-6 in Game 6, the Rangers were one pitch away from their first World Series win ever, dating back to Washington in 1960.

Against closer Neftali Feliz, the Cards David Freese hit a catchable fly to Nelson Cruz that led to a two-run triple and a tied ball game. Josh Hamilton hit an 11th inning homer for a one run lead, but in the bottom of the inning, Freeze would hit a walk off game winner. As fate would have it, the Cards won Game 7. The Rangers seemed destined to be perennial losers, until they returned to the World Series under manager Bruce Bochy in 2023 and beat the Arizona Diamondbacks for their first World Series win.

The loyal Mavericks fan base has been in turmoil since the trade of a once in a franchise talent like the 25-year-old Doncic by GM Nico Harrison. Even with the great Dirk Nowitzki, the Mavericks were not considered among the NBA echelon. Doncic and Irving together made the Mavericks a must-see team. Dallas is second in the 30-team league in home attendance, were regularly featured on national television and were admired by other NBA franchises. 

Speculation runs amok on why Harrison shocked the sports world and traded Doncic to the Lakers. Los Angeles has flourished with Doncic added to a team anchored by NBA legend LeBron James. Davis, one of the Top 75 players in NBA history, has played three quarters of one game in his five-week Mavericks career.    

Against Sacramento, the Mavericks fielded a team that included the 35-year-old Thompson, Exum, Kessler Edwards, Dwight Powell and Kai Jones. One more injury and the Mavericks will be recruiting players from the Dallas YMCA. 

If one thinks the Mavericks can win in the future with that squad, I’ll trade you a 25-year-old superstar for an oft-injured 31-year-old forward whose nickname is “Street Clothes.” This stretch of 67 days will be remembered in NBA annals as the time the Dallas Mavericks went from relevant to rotten.