Five months after ACL surgery, Kyrie Irving sounds like a man eager to beat the clock. The Dallas Mavericks star, long expected to return closer to midseason, is now hinting at a faster climb back that could shift the entire calculus of the team’s early campaign.

A potential early-return scenario that, if realized, would give Anthony Davis the running mate he played just one game with last year far sooner than planned. The hints have been subtle, but they’re stacking up, and if his latest comments are anything to go by, the Mavericks might not have to wait much longer.

He didn’t put a date on it. Instead, he dropped clues. “I was in the gym, doing a little bit more,” Irving said during a Twitch stream. “I won’t tell you exactly what I was doing because it’s all about incremental growth, but I can share with y’all it was some good days in the gym. I’m healing up great. This date today, on the 26th; this will be five months post-surgery.” For a player known to guard details of his recovery, he has been unusually open about his recovery timeline this summer, saying a few weeks ago, “I just want to be back 150,000% better. I’m taking my time right now to really get healthy.”

Those hints echo an earlier remark from head coach Jason Kidd, who said over the summer, “I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s back early. You know how Kyrie is—he’s one of the hardest workers, and when he’s committed to getting back, he’s going to give himself every chance to do it.” At the time, the working timeline was January 2026, with the injury suffered in March carrying a standard nine-to-ten-month outlook.

Off the court, Dallas reshaped its guard rotation and structured for Kyrie Irving’s phased return: acquiring D’Angelo Russell to start at point guard, drafting No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg, and extending both Irving and Daniel Gafford. These moves were designed to keep the Mavericks afloat while waiting for their star to recover, maintaining form and continuity through the transition.

If Irving does beat the projected January timeline, the ripple effect could be immediate. His earlier comeback would provide a longer runway to build chemistry with Anthony Davis, recalibrate ball-handling with Flagg, and transform Dallas from a patchwork contender into a true two-star core before the trade deadline, one capable of changing the entire ceiling of their season. Russell, looking to bounce back from a poor shooting year will help space the floor while Flagg gets his on-ball reps, which will give Irving a secondary playmaker to relieve pressure.

Sparks Already Flying for Mavs Outlook

Dallas knows how to survive without Kyrie, but not thrive. In his absence, the Mavericks stumbled to an 11–21 record during the 2024–25 season, a stretch that exposed their lack of offensive rhythm and late-game shot creation. The ball often stuck, possessions flattened, and the team relied too heavily on secondary creators to patch the gap, an approach that kept them competitive but rarely dangerous. It was less about effort and more about ceiling; without Irving, Dallas was simply a middling team in a loaded Western Conference, where the difference between the 2nd seed or the play-in was 4 wins last year.

Yet his actual on-court value becomes even clearer when examining the splits following the blockbuster Anthony Davis trade that sent Luka Doncic out of Texas. In games played without Davis, Irving averaged 27.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 3.6 assists on efficient shooting, often carrying most of the offense against top-seeded teams. Those numbers aren’t just production, but a statement of adaptability. He shifted seamlessly from co-star to primary engine, showing the Mavericks he could shoulder an All-NBA level workload when called upon.

The trade for Davis instantly redefined the team’s identity, pivoting them from a one-man-centric approach to a two-star architecture built around size and skill. A Kyrie return in late December or early January would accelerate that blueprint: it would give Dallas a full-strength core of Irving and Davis, allow No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg to settle into a defined role rather than be rushed, and reintroduce late-game dynamism that their 11–21 stretch sorely lacked. For a franchise teetering between transition and contention, that timing could be the difference between fighting for playoff positioning and shaping the conference’s upper tier.