Kyrie Irving to return for Mavericks preseason game in China after ACL tear, calf-strain 'setback'

Kyrie Irving will return to the court when the Dallas Mavericks take on the Houston Rockets in China this weekend, more than 19 months after a torn left ACL put him on the shelf — and some 10 months after suffering a previously undisclosed calf strain that the nine-time All-Star says derailed his efforts to come back during the 2025-26 NBA season.

New Mavericks head coach Dusty May told reporters in Macao that Irving will play in one of the two games scheduled as part of the NBA's preseason exhibition trip to China, though he wasn't sure yet whether it would be on Friday or Sunday.

"We will have a limited roster," May told reporters, according to Christian Clark of The Athletic . "Even with Kyrie, he is going to play one game here. We still haven't decided which one. Based on how his body feels, especially with the jet lag and things like that. It's still inconclusive at this time. We are working on different lineup combinations. But as of now, we are still not sure."

After such a long layoff, Irving said he does "feel like a little kid at the candy store a little bit" as he approaches his eagerly awaited return.

"For me personally, it's just getting out of my own way, and the mental aspect of it," Irving said, according to Kevin Gray of DLLS Sports . "Being back on the floor, putting my uniform back on, hearing my name be called — it feels like it's been a distant memory."

The preseason affair against the Rockets will represent Irving's first live game action since March 3, 2025, when he ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee on a drive to the basket against the Sacramento Kings. He had been playing brilliantly prior to the injury, averaging 28.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.8 steals and 1 block per game in his previous 10 contests while shouldering nearly the entire offensive load for a Mavericks team that had just traded franchise cornerstone Luka Dončić.

Irving returns to a drastically different Dallas team than the one he left — one led by a new head coach in May , a new president of basketball operations in Masai Ujiri , a new general manager in Mike Schmitz , and a new franchise cornerstone in reigning Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg . The two former No. 1 overall draft picks out of Duke have yet to share the court in an actual game, since Irving missed the entirety of the 2025-26 campaign — a longer-than-anticipated absence that was extended, he told reporters in China, by a calf injury he suffered while rehabilitating.

"Throughout the season, I did have a moment in December where I did have a setback," Irving said . "That did put me out for about eight weeks. I had a calf strain — a Grade 2 calf strain — that was just crazy, and it kind of pushed my timeline back even more. So I had to take my time to heal."

A Grade 2 calf strain is "considered a partial tear" of the calf muscle, according to injury expert Jeff Stotts of In Street Clothes . The Mavericks did not disclose Irving's setback last season before officially ruling him out for the remainder of the season on Feb. 18 .

"Irving has made steady progress in rehabilitation and will remain actively engaged with the team through the remainder of the season," the Mavericks said in a team statement announcing his shutdown.

The NBA saw a spate of calf strains last year , with superstars like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Victor Wembanyama and Ja Morant sidelined for multiple weeks by calf injuries, and Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton rupturing his Achilles tendon after playing on a strained calf.

"There is a concern that calf injuries can lead to Achilles injuries, and that this is all due to incomplete rehab in the calf and favoring one leg over the other," Dr. Richard Ferkel of the Southern Orthopedic Institute told Yahoo Sports contributing writer Tom Haberstroh last year . "Teams are being much more conservative in returning players back from calf injuries."

The Mavericks were 10 games under .500 entering January, in 13th place in the Western Conference . A month later, having fallen to 19-31, they traded All-Star big man Anthony Davis — the oft-injured primary return from the Dončić deal — to the Washington Wizards. Two weeks after that, they officially shut down Irving for the season.

"This decision wasn't easy, but it's the right one," Irving said at the time . "I am grateful for the Mavericks organization, my teammates and our fans for their continued support throughout the process. I look forward to coming back stronger next season. The belief and drive I have inside only grows."

Dallas would go 7-21 with the NBA's eighth-worst net rating after the All-Star break, finishing 26-56 — the franchise's worst record since 2017-18 and its second worst this century . The Mavericks would receive the No. 9 pick in June's 2026 NBA Draft, selecting Michigan forward Morez Johnson Jr.

"I think the offseason gave me time to just take that moment to just reflect, and push my body to the limits that I knew were smart," Irving told reporters in China .

Irving profiles as one of the most interesting returning players in the NBA this season — a high-volume, high-efficiency scorer and ball-handler whose arrival could lighten the playmaking workload on Flagg and help a young, revamped Mavericks roster begin the climb back up the Western Conference standings.

"I'm ready to go out there and kick some butt," Irving told reporters during his media day press conference last month. "I know that naysayers or some of the questions around where I'm going to be are going to be inevitable. [...] This is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately type of league, and everybody wants to see it up close. So I'm looking forward to being able to lace up my shoes and being on the court with my teammates and show everybody what I've got again."