USATSI

Kyrie Irving returned to the Dallas Mavericks Monday night after missing the last 12 games with a right heel contusion, and while Irving’s return to Dallas was important, the night was easily overshadowed by Jordan Clarkson’s triple-double and the Utah Jazz completely dismantling Dallas in a 127-90 loss.

In 32 minutes of play, Irving ended with 14 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists. Dallas, who dropped to.500 in the 12 games he missed, will benefit greatly from having him back. On December 8 against the Portland Trail Blazers, Irving suffered a right heel contusion, which seems like a straightforward bruise. But Irving disclosed that the reason he was out of the game for so long was because it was far more intricate than that.

“It’s my first time in my career I’ve had this type of injury,” Irving told reporters after Monday’s game. “It was unique. I wasn’t sure how long I was gonna be out. There was no structural damage done to it, but it was achy. … You get real, I don’t want to say humbled, but you realize that the injury is a lot more significant when you can’t get your other shoe on.”

The injury appeared far scarier on camera than it actually was. Irving missed a layup, drove to the hoop, and went down. At that moment, as the guard attempted to grab a rebound, teammate Dwight Powell crashed squarely on his right leg.

On first watch it looked like Irving could’ve sustained a broken or fractured ankle, but after having an MRI done the Mavericks said it was a right heel contusion. Still, Irving said he was scared after the injury, fearing it could be far worse than it was.

“Oh, yeah, I was scared, man,” Irving said. “I was very scared. … Once I got home, man, it was a struggle, just even going to sleep. You could feel the throbbing. I wasn’t sure of the significance of the injury and how long I was going to be out. Mentally I started planning out my rehab. The way to attack it is so unique. You just really have to give it rest – and there’s no real rest when you’re at this point of the season. The competitive spirit inside of me wants to get back on the court, but also the human side of me has to give my body time to heal. My mind time to heal.”

Irving called the situation a freak accident, and made sure to point out that it wasn’t Powell’s fault.

“It was a freak accident,” Irving said. “It was. Any person that tells you when they go through a freak accident that it doesn’t bother them mentally? They’re lying. Everybody saw it. It was one of those plays that could have gone either way. I could have fractured my ankle. I could have broken my ankle. So I’m just grateful. And it wasn’t Dwight’s fault, at all, for how the play happened. So I’m glad we could move past that as a team and now I’m back in the lineup and we can look forward to the future.”

It’ll likely take some time before Irving fully knocks off the rust, especially since he wasn’t able to do much work for nearly two weeks. But with the injury behind him, he and the Mavericks can now turn their focus toward gaining ground in an ever-competitive Western Conference. When Irving went out the Mavericks were 13-8, and sat third in the West. Dallas managed to tread water with a 6-6 record in Irving’s absence, but just staying afloat did enough damage to drop the Mavs to seventh, with a half game between them and the Pelicans for the sixth spot.

Other injuries to key Mavericks players, including Josh Green and Dereck Lively II, during that stretch played a role in the team just being average in the wins and losses column, but neither of them are nearly as impactful as Irving, whose absence meant — among other things — a heavier workload for Luka Doncic on offense. Doncic can handle a considerable amount. We’ve seen him have some of his best performances when he’s doing literally everything. But time has proven that isn’t sustainable for Doncic and the Mavericks. Having a second, elite ballhandler out there with Doncic, especially someone like Irving who can play on or off the ball is far more ideal, and prior to Irving’s injury it was successful for Dallas.

In the 17 games the duo played together this season the Mavericks posted a plus-4.9 net rating when they shared the court, a slight uptick from the limited time they spent together last year. And even more importantly Dallas went 10-7 in those games. Getting Irving back gives Doncic some reprieve and makes things far more difficult for opponents to defend. Double teams won’t be as frequent on Doncic with Irving also on the floor, and even when that does happen defenders run the chance of leaving Irving open to make a play either for himself or someone else.

With Irving back in the fold the offense should improve significantly, an area where Dallas struggled heavily without him. In the 12 games Irving missed, Dallas dropped from the 4th-best offense to 19th, and with as poor as the Mavericks are on defense, they can’t also afford to put up bricks on the other end. Dallas’ gameplan has always been to try and put up as many points as possible while being at least average on defense, and while Irving won’t really help with the latter, his offensive versatility should help the Mavericks regain some footing in a tight Western Conference.