Mavericks' Jason Kidd fires back at narrative surrounding Kyrie Irving injury
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When Kyrie Irving tore his ACL earlier this week, it signaled the beginning of the end for the Dallas Mavericks. With the injury has come speculation that head coach Jason Kidd isn’t a fan.
For instance, one report suggested that Irving’s injury was because of his minutes. From the beginning of January to his injury, he was amongst the top in the league in minutes played.
While that might be a logical explanation, Kidd explained that the injury was a ‘freak accident.’ However, the head coach elaborated that there’s more to the story.
“We’re talking about one play,” Kidd said via Jamal Collier of ESPN. “Not many before that. It’s a freak accident, that’s how it should be reported. We’re reporting on conspiracy theories. We want our stars to play. This isn’t supposed to be a rest league.”
The rest league mantra that Kidd is referring to is one that many around the NBA have participated in. Load management has become an increasing point of discussion. As a result, some of the league’s best have rested when their record might say otherwise.
However, the Mavericks were teetering between a play-in and a playoff spot. When they had Luka Doncic, they were for certain a lock to make the playoffs.
Jason Kidd feels the Mavericks after Kyrie Irving’s injury
Without the Slovenian superstar, it forced Irving to play hero ball. Still, the latter was exceptional and truly put the franchise and the city on his back.
The Mavericks head coach acknowledged that. He also detailed the discrepancy there is with injury and playing time.
“Kai is our leader,” Kidd said. “Kai also was playing at a high level; maybe some of the best basketball he’s played in his career. We can’t talk from both sides and say our stars don’t play enough minutes and guys don’t play enough. They rest. But now we’re saying they play too much.”
There’s quite the juxtaposition with stars playing too many minutes and taking rest days. It feels that no matter how much or how little these players are on the court, there is always criticism.
Either way, the Mavericks have a long road ahead of them. After they lost to the Milwaukee Bucks by 30 points on Wednesday, it might be the dagger that the team is waiting for.
A franchise-altering trade, mixed with losing Irving isn’t what anyone expected. There’s roughly a nine to 12-month window for his recovery. Throughout the process, it might be likely that his amount of minutes played leading up to an injury will be a continued talking point.
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