By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Superstar point guard Kyrie Irving will be out for the Dallas Mavericks indefinitely after suffering a fractured left hand confirmed on July 17, 2024.
According to ESPN’s veteran NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski, Irving broke his left hand during a training session and has already undergone surgery to repair his injury.
The Mavericks still didn’t give any specific timetable for his return but are optimistic that the veteran floor general can comeback in the middle of their training camp in preparation for the next NBA season.
Irving was a vital piece to the franchise’s NBA Finals run, leading the Mavericks to a successful Western Conference championship to advance to the championship stage.
During the series-clinching Game 5 against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Irving went off, scoring 36 big points to steer Dallas to an NBA Finals return trip.
This victory ends the Mavericks’ 13-year NBA Finals drought and marks them as one of only 10 teams ranked fourth or lower to reach the league’s grand stage.
As the fifth-seeded team in the Western Conference, the Mavericks had a challenging path, defeating higher-seeded teams like the Clippers and the Thunder before facing a strong Minnesota squad that had an impressive series win over the defending champions, the Denver Nuggets.
However, Irving and the Mavericks failed to contain the stacked Boston Celtics squad who took them down to bag this season’s NBA title in just five games.
From the Western Conference first round of the playoffs to the finals, Irving averaged an impressive 22.1 points, 5.1 assists, and 3.7 rebounds per game.
During the regular season when he helped Dallas punch a late ticket to the post-season, Irving registered 25,6 points, 5.2 dimes, and 5.0 boards in 58 total games played.
