Kyrie Irving played basketball again on Wednesday night. Six hundred days after he tore the ACL in his left knee — 597 days, to be exact — Irving played 23 minutes and 45 seconds for the Dallas Mavericks in their season opener at Houston, scoring 15 points with four rebounds and two assists in a 128–110 loss.
The return was managed by design: short stints in each quarter, six shots made on nine attempts, and 11 of his 15 points in the third quarter on 4-of-4 shooting. “Just the human element hit me, man,” Irving said. “I’m back in the NBA game.” On the minutes plan, he said he was “chomping at the bit a little bit, but… it’s a big picture.”
The game itself was decided by halftime. Houston led 70–38 at the break after outscoring Dallas 38–12 in the second quarter, in which the Mavericks shot 4-of-19 and missed all 14 of their three-pointers; the Rockets led by as many as 37 in the third. Irving called the second quarter’s effort “just horrendous.” Kevin Durant and Jabari Smith Jr. scored 30 each for Houston, Alperen Şengün had 23 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, and Amen Thompson had 16 and 10.
The return, in numbers
- 597 days between regular-season games (ACL torn March 3, 2025, vs. Sacramento)
- Wednesday: 15 points (6-of-9), 4 rebounds, 2 assists in 23:45, in four short stints
- Houston 128, Dallas 110; halftime 70–38; the second quarter was 38–12
- Flagg: a game-high 32 points; Durant and Smith Jr.: 30 each for Houston
- Next: at Indiana Friday, vs. San Antonio Saturday — Irving not on the injury report for Friday
Cooper Flagg, the game’s high scorer, had 32 points for Dallas — per FOX 7 Austin, the most points by a teenager in a season opener in NBA history — with five rebounds, three steals and a block. “Kai is Kai,” Flagg said, “a one-of-a-kind talent.” Coach Dusty May, who replaced the fired Jason Kidd during Irving’s absence, said of Irving: “In the second half he showed his true character of being a leader… set a great example.”
Irving tore the ACL on March 3, 2025, against Sacramento. He missed the final 20 games of that season and all of 2025–26, when Dallas went 26–56 and Flagg won Rookie of the Year; a Grade 2 calf strain in December 2025 added weeks to the recovery, the Dallas Morning News reported. One of the men he faced Wednesday was on the same road: Houston’s Fred VanVleet, back from a torn ACL that cost him all of last season, had six points, 11 assists and no turnovers — and Irving guarded him on the opening tip.
Dallas plays at Indiana on Friday and at home against San Antonio on Saturday. Irving was not on the Mavericks’ injury report for the Indiana game, pointing to his first back-to-back since the injury, on a managed minutes load of about 24.
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