The Dallas Mavericks will be without Kyrie Irving for the rest of the season, as the star guard tore his left ACL against the Sacramento Kings on Monday, the team announced a day later.
Irving, 32 will finish the season having played in 50 games, with averages of 24.7 points (on 59.4% true shooting), 4.8 rebounds and 4.6 assists.
The nine-time All-Star suffered the injury on a drive late in the first quarter. He stayed in the game to shoot his two free throws — hobbling his way to the line with the help of Anthony Davis and a Mavericks employee after staying down on the court for several minutes — then headed to the locker room and was quickly ruled out for the remainder of the game with what the team initially termed a left knee sprain.
Irving taking the free throws was reminiscent of Kobe Bryant limping to the line with a ruptured Achilles in 2013.
Monday’s loss dropped the Mavericks to 32-30, putting them in the No. 10 spot in the West. Dallas has a 3 ½-game cushion on the Phoenix Suns for the final play-in spot, but its latest injury will make qualifying for the playoffs much more challenging than it already was.
“The injuries that we’ve had this season, guys are trying to hold it together to get other bodies back,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd told reporters Monday. “And it just seems every time we’re getting close to getting somebody back, someone goes down. We’re running out of bodies here, but guys keep fighting.”
Dallas is already without the services of Davis, who was acquired in the blockbuster Luka Dončić trade, as well as Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II. In addition, PJ Washington exited Saturday’s game vs. Milwaukee with an ankle injury and didn’t play on Monday. Caleb Martin, acquired by the Mavs at the trade deadline, hasn’t even suited up for the team yet due to a hip injury.
Davis, Lively and Gafford are all set to be reevaluated on Thursday. Davis left the only game he played with the Mavericks on Feb. 8 because of a groin injury.
The Dallas Mavericks torpedoed their future by trading Luka Doncic in early February, a deal that will likely be remembered as the worst trade in NBA history. It was malpractice then, and it’s still the worst move a general manager could ever make in the NBA.
Since that trade, the Mavericks have struggled to stay afloat as the injury bug has moved through the roster like a tornado. On Tuesday morning, the Mavericks got dealt the death blow after the team announced that All-Star guard Kyrie Irving sustained a torn ACL in his left knee that will sideline him for the remainder of the season. That adds Irving to a list of injured players that already includes Anthony Davis — who sustained an adductor strain in his first game with the Mavericks after being obtained in the Dončić trade — P.J. Washington, Dereck Lively II, Daniel Gafford, Jaden Hardy and Caleb Martin.
The Mavericks already had a grim outlook for the rest of the season after trading away a 26-year-old perennial MVP candidate in Dončić, but this latest news of Irving’s injury all but ends Dallas’ quest to make the playoffs. In reality, the Mavericks have no other choice than to tank the rest of the season, and possibly next season, too.
Kyrie Irving’s injury creates one of the strangest Play-In races we’ll ever see Sam Quinn Kyrie Irving’s injury creates one of the strangest Play-In races we’ll ever see Irving has been the primary reason Dallas has managed to stay competitive both prior to Dončić getting traded and after. Dating back to when Dončić went down with a calf strain on Christmas Day, Irving ranks 12th in points (26.1) and eighth in minutes (37.0). He’s one of only two players age 30 or older who rank in the top 10 in minutes since Christmas; the other is Kevin Durant. With Irving now out for the rest of the season, Dallas lacks the engine that made this team go, and more importantly its top scorer.
The ripple effects of Irving’s prognosis completely alter the Mavericks’ plans going forward. Now there’s no reason to rush back Davis, who was expected to be reevaluated later this week with a possible return coming soon, and in fact incentive to not do so. The same goes for Lively — who is still in a walking boot — and Gafford, both of whom were also supposed to receive updates to their injuries on Thursday. Now the Mavericks must shift gears from trying to make a late push for Play-In positioning to prioritizing the draft.
If the season ended today, the Mavericks would have the 13th pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, not a bad position to have in what is expected to be a deep class. But if Dallas continues to lose, they could climb up the draft board, potentially as high as the No. 8 or No. 9 spots, giving them a significantly greater shot at landing a top-4 pick if the lottery balls fall in their favor.
Landing anywhere in the lottery would net Dallas a quality young player for the future, though Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison made it clear at his press conference following the Dončić trade that he’s less concerned with the team’s long-term plans, saying, “the future to me is three, four years from now. The future 10 years from now, I don’t know, they’ll probably bury me and [coach Jason Kidd] by then. Or we bury ourselves.”
With those puzzling comments in mind, there’s a world in which Harrison uses that lottery selection in a trade to go get someone who can help carry out his short-sighted goals. Though, if Irving is expected to be sidelined for a full year — which is typical for an ACL tear — then that would mean his return wouldn’t come until February or March 2026. So now, those short-term goals Harrison and new Mavericks owner Patrick Dumont preached are getting kicked further and further down the line.
If Irving can’t return until March 2026, then the Mavericks are in store for another season where tanking might be the best option. The whole reason Harrison went out and got Davis was to create a dynamic pairing with Irving, but with the latter out of the picture for what could be a year, now what?
Tanking isn’t just the best option, it’s the only option at this rate for the Mavericks. And the fact that this is where the team’s at just nine months removed from an NBA Finals appearance makes that reality even more bleak.
We’ve got another exciting Eastern Conference matchup on Tuesday’s NBA schedule as the Orlando Magic host the Toronto Raptors. Orlando is 29-33 overall and 18-14 at home, while Toronto is 19-42 overall and 6-23 on the road. The Raptors have won two of three matchups with the Magic this season, including a 104-102 victory on Sunday. Toronto is 34-25-2 against the spread (ATS) in the 2024-25 NBA season, while Orlando is 29-33 versus the line. Cole Anthony (toe) is questionable for Orlando, while Jalen Suggs (knee) was just ruled out for the rest of the season.
Tipoff is at 7 p.m. ET at the Kia Center in Orlando, Fla. The Magic are favored by 7.5 points in the latest Raptors vs. Magic odds, per SportsLine consensus, and the over/under is 207.5 points. Orlando is at -302 on the money line (risk $302 to win $100), while Toronto is at +241 (risk $100 to win $241). Before entering any Magic vs. Raptors picks, you’ll want to see the NBA predictions from the model at SportsLine.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every NBA game 10,000 times and has returned well over $10,000 in betting profit for $100 players on its top-rated NBA picks over the past six-plus seasons. The model enters Week 20 of the 2024-25 NBA season on a sizzling 147-107 roll on all top-rated NBA picks dating back to last season, returning nearly $4,000. It’s also an outstanding 18-10 (64%) on top-rated spread picks this season. Anyone following at sportsbooks and on betting apps could have seen huge returns.
The model has set its sights on Toronto vs. Orlando. You can head to SportsLine to see its picks. Here are several NBA betting lines for Raptors vs. Magic:
Magic vs. Raptors spread: Magic -7.5 Magic vs. Raptors over/under: 207.5 points Magic vs. Raptors money line: Magic: -302, Raptors: +241 Magic vs. Raptors picks: See picks at SportsLine Magic vs. Raptors streaming: FuboTV (Try for free) Why the Magic can cover The Magic lost a 104-102 heartbreaker at the hands of the Raptors on Sunday, despite Franz Wagner (25 points) and Paolo Banchero (23 points) carrying the team. No other Magic player scored more than 14 points as Orlando’s strength lies on the defensive end of the court. The team allows the fewest points per game, ranks second in defensive rating and averages the second-most blocks per game. That strong interior defense is complemented by a stingy perimeter defense as Orlando is allowing the fewest made 3-pointers per game.
Wagner (25 ppg) and Banchero (23.6 ppg) are the only active Magic players averaging in double-figures, but the team also has another six players putting up more than 7.5 points per game. Orlando also has a strong spread record as a home favorite, going 14-8, with that cover percentage being the fourth-best in the NBA. The Magic also get to face a Raptors team which has yet to see Brandon Ingram (ankle) suit up for the team, while former Kansas standouts Gradey Dick (knee) and Ochai Agbaji (ankle) are both out. See which team to back at SportsLine.
Why the Raptors can cover One only has to look at the result of Sunday’s game to see why Toronto can cover as the Raptors outright won as 7-point underdogs. Immanuel Quickley led Toronto with 24 points, with RJ Barrett adding 22 points. Jakob Poeltl had 16 points and 11 rebounds as his 20 double-doubles on the season have already matched his total from last year.
Just three teams have a better spread record than Toronto this season, and just one team has a better ATS record than the Raptors with one day of rest, as Toronto is 24-12 versus the line in those situations. Meanwhile, Orlando has dropped three straight against the spread. Even with injures to Dick and Agbaji, Toronto can still roll out five players averaging in double-figures, compared to Orlando having just two such healthy players. See which team to back at SportsLine.
How to make Magic vs. Raptors picks The model has simulated Raptors vs. Magic 10,000 times and the results are in. We can tell you that the model is leaning Under, projecting 203 combined points, and it’s also generated a point-spread pick where one side hits in well over 60% of simulations in an A-rated pick. You can only see the pick at SportsLine.
So who wins Magic vs. Raptors, and which side of the spread hits well over 60% of the time in an A-rated pick? Visit SportsLine now to see which side of the Raptors vs. Magic spread you need to jump on, all from the model that is on a 147-107 roll on top-rated NBA picks, and find out.
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