DALLAS — Michael Porter Jr. said he played pickup basketball with Kyrie Irving a day earlier. Porter, a forward for the Brooklyn Nets, made the comments on “Curious Mike”.
“I was hooping with him yesterday and this is off of his ACL,” Porter said. “That dude was so cold, bro. I couldn’t believe how he was moving out there. And he was getting to the lane, there’s all footers in there and he somehow was with the left. Bro, it was nutty. It was crazy.”
Irving has not played in an NBA game since March 3, 2025. He tore the ACL in his left knee late in the first quarter of a 122-98 loss to the Sacramento Kings at American Airlines Center, drew a foul on the play, and stayed on the floor to shoot two free throws before leaving with help. He finished with 7 points, 1 rebound, and 1 assist in 9 minutes.
Dr. Riley J. Williams, chief of sports medicine at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, performed the reconstruction. The Dallas Mavericks played their final 20 games of the 2024-25 season without Irving. He had averaged 24.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.6 assists in 50 games before the injury.
On Feb. 18, 2026, the team announced Irving would not return during the 2025-26 season either. That became the first full season he has missed. He has not appeared in more than 60 games in a single season since 2019. He turned 34 on March 23.
Irving declined a $43 million player option in June 2025 and signed a three-year, $119 million contract on July 6 of that year. The deal runs through 2027-28 on a player option.
Kyrie Irving’s Recovery Timeline Before Dallas Mavericks Camp
Mavericks general manager Mike Schmitz told reporters on May 28 that Irving had been around the practice facility almost daily.
“I can say he’s been doing everything human possible to maximize his talent … just to see his approach, and how he’s attacking things every day, has been incredibly impressive,” Schmitz said.
Irving addressed the knee himself on a Twitch stream the following night. He said he was close to being all the way back.
“It’s been a while now. It’s been a year and change,” Irving said. “I’m so grateful that I’ve had the time to heal … and just pushing myself to the limit.”
ESPN’s Shams Charania reported in July that Irving had fully recovered from the tear and had spoken with Mavericks coach Dusty May, president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri, and Schmitz over the offseason. Workout footage of Irving posted to Instagram by his trainer circulated on Aug. 5.
Michael Porter Jr.’s Career-Best Season In Brooklyn
Porter averaged a career-high 24.2 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 3.0 assists in 52 games last season, his first with Brooklyn. He shot 46.3% from the field and 36.3% from 3-point range.
Porter missed three games in March with a sprained right ankle. An MRI that month revealed a strained left hamstring. The Nets set his re-evaluation at two to three weeks. Brooklyn was 17-52 at the time.
Denver traded Porter to the Nets in July 2025 and sent a 2032 first-round pick to Brooklyn in the same deal. Porter spent his first six seasons with the Denver Nuggets after they took him 14th overall in the 2018 draft out of Missouri, and he won a championship with them in 2023.
Porter has spent part of this offseason in Los Angeles. James H. Williams of USA Today reported that Porter was among the players using the PLYRS UNTD Performance Center, a 24-hour facility the National Basketball Players Association opened for the roughly 200 players who train in the area.
Dallas Mavericks Roster Around Kyrie Irving And Cooper Flagg
Cooper Flagg won Rookie of the Year and made the All-Rookie First Team after averaging 21.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 4.5 assists in 70 starts. He and Irving have never shared a floor in a regular-season game.
Ujiri talked with Irving about that fit over the offseason.
“I think Kyrie will fit,” Ujiri said on May 20. “I’ve said it before: There’s a huge curiosity in our minds to see how Kyrie fits playing with Cooper Flagg.”
Dallas finished 26-56 and 12th in the Western Conference. Ujiri took over basketball operations on May 4, Schmitz arrived from the Portland Trail Blazers four days later, and Jason Kidd parted ways with the franchise on May 19. May was hired June 22, a day before the draft.
Dallas used the No. 9 pick on Morez Johnson Jr. in June. Zaccharie Risacher arrived in a July trade. Santi Aldama and Marcus Sasser came in separate deals that same month.
May coaches his first regular-season game against the Houston Rockets on Oct. 21. Tip-off in Houston is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT.
