With less than a month left in the season, the Dallas Mavericks are in a difficult spot. They are 34-27 and own the No. 11 seed in the West. After making the NBA Finals not even a year ago, the Mavericks may miss out on the postseason altogether this year. Additionally, they have dealt with numerous injuries all year. This includes Kyrie Irving, who suffered a season-ending ACL injury in the Mavericks’ loss to the Sacramento Kings earlier this month.
Despite how poorly the Mavericks’ season has gone so far, the players are not giving up. Recently, Irving spoke to Mavericks fans and sent an encouraging message (YouTube link).
“I know we’ve dealt with a lot. I know we’ve been going through a lot. But please, just stick with us. Understand that we’re here for the long haul, too—to make this thing work. I don’t want anybody to focus on playing the blame game. Let’s just focus on where we are now. I’m so grateful to be surrounded by a community like Dallas, where we love sports. We love our sports players. We support each other. But at the same time, our culture is being rebuilt as we speak. It’s part of franchise building and franchise changes.”
Mavericks Star Kyrie Irving Sends Much-Needed Message to Fans
Kyrie Irving Opens Up About His Injury
At the time of his injury, many speculated that Irving was dealing with too much fatigue. However, the Mavericks star recently clarified and said fatigue was not the issue.
“So I feel like this ties hand in hand because even after I got injured, certain media members were coming out trying to blame J-Kidd, or blame the Dallas Mavericks. You know, and all this other stuff—they were trying to blame people. Because I was playing a lot of minutes. I’m telling you right now: if you ask 95% of the league—there’s another 5% that don’t really care when they play—but you ask 95% of the league if they’d rather play 15 minutes or 35 minutes a night? I guarantee you, 95% of them would say 35 minutes,” Irving said.
“I led the league in minutes. So f*** what? So the f*** what? Like, you guys are blaming other people—so the f*** what? It doesn’t bother me. I play professional sports. My job is to be conditioned at a very high level. I had to step on Valanciunas’s foot for me to be off-balance and get injured…didn’t get injured from fatigue…I didn’t have a fatigue injury. I take great care of my body. You know what I mean?”
The Last Word
The Mavericks are in rough shape. However, it is not all bad in Dallas. They still have a talented roster and are a highly intriguing team. It is still fair to question the Doncic trade. Even so, Davis is a big asset for them regardless. This season may unofficially be over. However, if they can get fully healthy for next year, the Mavericks are a team to keep an eye on in the playoff race. After making the Finals less than a year ago, the Mavericks will aim to get back to the big stage. Hopefully for them, they can do it sooner rather than later.
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