‘Chomping At The Bit A Little Bit’: Kyrie Irving Details His Minutes Plan And Dallas Mavericks’ Changed Medical Staff

HOUSTON — Kyrie Irving checked out of the Dallas Mavericks’ season opener 3:51 after the opening tip Wednesday night. His minutes are lined up through conversations with a medical staff that has gone through a lot of change, he said after the 128-110 loss to the Houston Rockets.

Irving finished with 15 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists on 6-of-9 shooting in 23:45. He played 7:28 in the first quarter, 6:35 in the second, 8:39 in the third, and 1:03 in the fourth.

It was his first regular-season game since March 3, 2025, when he tore the ACL in his left knee against the Sacramento Kings. He missed the rest of that season and all of 2025-26.

At Mavericks media day on Sept. 25, Irving said he had no physical restrictions from the injury. He played 22 minutes in his preseason debut on Oct. 11 in Macao, rested Oct. 14, and played again in the Oct. 16 preseason finale against Atlanta.

Irving is used to playing 10 to 12 minutes to start a game. Getting used to a shorter first stint is part of the adjustment, he said.

“Just gotta do a better job of being aggressive. Start off the game and obviously my spotty minutes were, or I don’t wanna say spotty minutes, but just the minutes that I was gonna play. Just gotta get used to them,” Irving said. “I came out very early in that first quarter. I’m used to playing 12 minutes through or 11 minutes, 10 minutes through. And I gotta do a better job of adjusting to what our game plan is and just getting other guys involved.”

Kyrie Irving On The Dallas Mavericks’ Medical Staff And His Minutes

The Mavericks named Nico Berg their executive director of health and performance as part of a group of hires this fall. Berg is a physiotherapist who has worked in the NBA, NFL, and NHL. The same group included Ally Wade as director of mind health.

Irving’s minutes are part game plan and part ramping back up, he said. A lot of change in the medical staff puts pressure on a few people in that office.

“It’s a little bit of both, but I think on the latter side of just getting ramped back up, playing more minutes, getting more confident and more comfortable out there,” Irving explained. “And we have a great medical staff, but we also had a lot of change there. So it’s a lot of pressure on a few guys in that office. And we all wanna make each other look good.”

“So I do my preparation, they have their preparation. We talk, talk to Dusty, talk to the coaching staff as well,” Irving continued. “They have my minutes lined up and I just gotta be very patient. So chomping at the bit a little bit, but at the same time, it’s a big picture.”

In past seasons, Irving could ease into games. Playing on a restriction means attacking from the tip, he said.

“For the past few years, that’s been the pattern where I get a chance to come into the game and ease my way into it,” Irving noted. “But now, playing on this minutes restriction or whatever the case may be, I gotta be in attack mode as soon as I get the ball, as soon as the ball is tipped.”

Irving On Nerves In His First Regular-Season Game In 597 Days

Irving guarded Fred VanVleet on the opening tip. VanVleet was playing his own first regular-season game since tearing his right ACL before the 2025-26 season, and he finished with 6 points and 11 assists.

The human element hit Irving on the tip, he said, and at times he had to settle in and ground himself.

“Just the human element hit me, man. I was like, man, I’m back in the NBA game, and I’m getting double teamed, or I’m seeing Alperen Şengün coming up here and trying to get the ball out of my hands,” Irving said. “… And it’s just the adjustment period. And there were times where mentally I was out there and I just had to settle in and ground myself. Like I’m really back in the NBA game, back into the flow of things.”

“Even when the ball was tipped when I was guarding Fred, I was just, my body felt just a little bit looser than normal, just, I don’t know what you can really attribute to, maybe it is nerves and anxiety or anxiousness. But I think it’s just more or less like the mental approach,” Irving continued. “You’re going out there, you just want everything to go right. And tonight, a lot of things did go right, but a lot of things did go wrong. I think you kind of got to laugh at it, but also the seriousness of being a competitor.”

Irving scored 4 points in the first half and 11 in the third quarter on 4-of-4 shooting, his longest stint of the night. Dallas plays a back-to-back this weekend, at the Indiana Pacers on Friday at 6 p.m. CT and at home against the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday.