Kyrie Irving is back on the Mavericks’ runway, but Shawn Marion isn’t ready to promise the old version of the star guard will be waiting at the end of it.
With Irving set to return for the 2026-27 NBA season after sitting out the entire previous year because of a torn ACL, Marion gave a blunt but fair read on what Dallas can expect. Speaking with Kyle Odegard of Action Network, the former Mavericks forward said the league’s youth and depth make this comeback anything but a sure thing.
“I would like to see him back to that top level. You just don’t know, man.
The league is so young and everyone is so talented. I want to see what happens, and how he helps the team.”
Irving hasn’t played in a regular-season game since going down with that torn ACL against the Sacramento Kings in March 2025. That kind of absence naturally raises the biggest question in Dallas: can he get back to the scoring burst and sharp explosiveness that made him one of the NBA’s most dangerous offensive guards?
Marion did say Irving appears to be in good shape after the long rehab process.
“He’s been working out like crazy with his teammates and doing his little circuit. He looks good, looks healthy. He could have come back last year but they waited the full year.”
The numbers from before the injury explain why Dallas is so eager to have him back. In the 2024-25 season, Irving put up 24.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.3 steals per game while shooting 47.3% from the field and 40.1% from 3-point range in 50 appearances, playing 36.1 minutes a night.
The year before that, he was even more efficient for Dallas, averaging 25.6 points, 5.2 assists and 5.0 rebounds while shooting 49.7% from the field and 41.1% from deep in 58 games. That level of production helped push the Mavericks all the way to the 2024 NBA Finals.
Still, this is not the same Dallas team Irving left behind. The Mavericks are coming off a 26-56 season that landed them 12th in the Western Conference, and their preseason offered little comfort after they went 1-3 and finished with Friday night’s 135-111 loss to the Atlanta Hawks.
Now Dallas is counting on Irving to provide a major lift next to reigning Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg as the team tries to find some rhythm under new head coach Dusty May.
For all the optimism around his return, Marion’s comments capture the reality of the situation: Irving’s comeback matters, but nobody knows exactly how much of his old game will come back with him.
The Mavericks open the regular season Wednesday, Oct. 21, against the Houston Rockets at 8:30 p.m. ET.
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