Kidd denies that Kyrie Irving's injury occurred due to excess minutes

The coach of the Dallas Mavericks, Jason Kidd, described Kyrie Irving's anterior cruciate ligament injury as a "freak accident" and dismissed any connection between the increased minutes for the point guard and the serious injury he suffered.

In the ten games leading up to Irving's injury, which occurred on Monday against the Sacramento Kings, he was averaging 39.3 minutes on the court, an increase from the 35.9 he had before. Since Luka Doncic's trade to the Los Angeles Lakers, no one in the NBA had played more minutes in that span.

Prior to Wednesday's game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Kidd made his stance clear by ruling out any link between playing time and the injury.

"We are talking about one play. Not several before that. It's a freak accident, that's how it should be reported," Kidd stated. "We are spinning conspiracy theories. We want our stars to play. This league is not made for resting players."

Irving had been the most consistent player for the Mavericks this season, averaging 24.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.6 assists in 36.1 minutes per game. Additionally, he had played in 50 out of the team's 62 games and was selected for his ninth All-Star appearance in February.

"Kai is our leader," Kidd pointed out. "He was also playing at a very high level, perhaps the best of his career. We can't talk both ways and say our stars don't play enough minutes and that players rest too much, to then say they play too much."

The Mavericks were already dealing with the absence of Anthony Davis, who had only played one game with the team before being sidelined by a groin injury. This was compounded by the absences of Dereck Lively II, Daniel Gafford, and Kai Jones.

Facing Milwaukee with only eight players available, Dallas ended up falling 137-107. What Kidd doesn't explain about Kyrie is that it's not just the minutes with Luka's absence, it's also the impact on the game that surely exhausts him more.

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Kidd niega que la lesión de Kyrie Irving se produjera por exceso de minutos